I'm reading "Portrait of the artist as a young man" for school, and the heavy, obscure Irish history mixed with the stream of conciousness makes me want to mutilate myself.

someday i will try some JJ....seems pretty wicked!

There's a bar in Durham called James Joyce. It kicks ass.

I love Joyce. Ulysses is one of my favorite works ever. You're really breaking down into the most creative, pure use of language as expression and reflection when you've dissolved it to the exact styling you desire. Cool guy.

Really? That's interesting. James Joyce is one of my favorite writers, and I actually carry my copy of Dubliners around in my handbag very often - those stories never tire of me.

The final story is one we were talking about in the Short Story thread, called The Dead. The atmosphere Joyce presents in each story is welcoming to the reader - Joyce always writes me into his novel with the way he delivers a setting. I felt like I was coming in the door from the cold outside and being greeted hastily by Lily, dancing in the ballroom, at the dinner table listening to Gabriel's speech and applauding him, in the carriage on his way home with his wife, and I can really feel Gabriel's and Gretta's emotions in the piercing ending - particularly Gabriel's, of course. There is nothing like being invited into a story in such a way.

No one knows their characters like James Joyce. It's hard to imagine that James Joyce himself wasn't once the young boy watching and pondering about the girl of his affections in Araby, or Gabriel, who is so engrossed by a love for his delicate wife and is hit with a stark confession from her while he is so excited and overwhelmed by her, as if she could always be new to him... His characters are portrayed in such a realistic fashion, and those whose thoughts are known have human wonders.

James Joyce's works are experiences for the reader. I've never been to Dublin, or Ireland even, but I know it. I so admire him for the way he loves his home and is so affected by it that he can put the city into words. Sometimes, I feel myself missing Dublin! I feel just as much love for Philadelphia, and I've always wanted to incorporate the genuineness and wonders of the city in my writings. James Joyce, therefore, is one of my literary heroes.

MC, nicely said.

I've read Araby and it wasn't too bad, I sort of liked it in fact.


POTA is killing me though.

You think Portrait is tough, try Finnegans Wake.

i had to read a couple of his works for some college classes, too... boooooooring

heh i might be thinking of the totally wrong book but is this the one that starts out in the middle of a sentence?

Joyce certainly isn't for everyone. I'd say that, in the realm of literature, you've got the same balance as you do in music. It's a form that is dances between entertainment and art. Some people prefer that it solely be entertainment. Some prefer it solely be art. Others want a balance to some degree or another. The entertainment people will generally be really bored with the art people, and vice versa. Joyce is about as far into the art realm as you can get.

i'm reading The Scarlet Letter, and it's reminded me of how horrendously difficult POTA was. I'm rather enjoying Scarlet Letter, but whenever I get bogged down with the constant commas, or sentences that get so off topic with description that by the time you finish them you forget what they were describing, I recall how much worse POTA was.

Well-said.

I read it for my English Lit class in high school and, while it was tough to get through, it was rewarding.

Read the first page of Finnegans Wake by Joyce. I promise you, everything else he wrote will look like the nicest, easiest "See Spot Run" shit you've ever seen.

Fuck James Joyce.

"she's my favorite writer"

If you were to say that around the English Department of this University they'd beat you to death with their hardback copies of Ulysses

If you want to ease into that whole stream of consciousness thing (because it really is an acquired taste) go read All the King's Men. Warren does this rambling thing on about every page, and it really becomes just another part of the novel after the first 100 pages... you don't even notice he's doing it after awhile.

If you ask me it really enhances the story.

You read Ulysses for a high school class? I'm jealous. I've always wanted to read the book again with some instruction...I'm sure there are some things that I would appreciate more after reading it with an expert. It's one of my top 10 favorite books.

Joyce is awesome, but it's heavy reading in a sense.

Have you slapped any bitches yet?