How to Read Ulysses by James Joyce

Jan 10, 2012
Michael Manning

Ulysses by James Joyce 1922 - James Joyce Centre Dublin

James Joyce wrote Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake in 1914 which took a major toll on his life with his health suffering long term.

Some 70 years after James Joyce's death Ulysses remains the most difficult of entertaining novels even though it was written as a comedy. Ulysses was written in 1914, which was also the year wrote Exiles, published Dubliners, wrote the poem Giacomo Joyce and completed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The best advice is to read Homer's Odyssey, Joyce's Dubliners, A Portrait then Ulysses in sequence, then the reader is prepared.

Homer's Odyssey, Dubliners, A Portrait then Ulysses

Homer's Odyssey is an excellent guide to Joyce's Ulysses. Simply follow Odysseus's journey from the destruction of Troy to his homeland of Ithaca during which time he endured terrible trials such as the clashing rocks, the seductive Sirens and the one eyed Cyclops to whom Odysseus gave his name as Nemo (no one). On being blinded, the Cyclops ran to his neighbours calling 'no one has blinded me', Odysseus and his crew escaped.

Joyce recreated Odysseus' journey as Leopold Bloom, the anti-hero, as he journeyed around Dublin on the day James Joyce and Nora Barnacle first met in Dublin on 16 June 1904.

Dubliners deals with the Irish catharsis (disposing of bad feelings by reliving them) in a series of short stories - the young girl should have run away with the sailor; in The Dead, Dignam should have fulfilled his wife's expectations, he did not.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a demanding read with Jesuit educated Stephen Dedalus seeking a fulfilling career.

The Use of Myths in Ulysses

Bloomsday (celebrated and recreated by Anthony Cronin in Dublin in 1952) relates the fictional Leopold Bloom's 16th June 1904 wanderings around Dublin. Ulysses was written as a comedy.

Ulysses takes the Odyssey and creates a myth with four aspects: Stephen’s estrangement from Mulligan; Molly Bloom’s infidelity; Bloom and Stephen meeting and their return to Bloom’s house and their parting. This myth occurs in the mind.

The second myth is ethical (desirable and undesirable life). The third myth is aesthetic (art versus nature - art and morality). The last myth is the ultimate justification of existence.

The book concludes with ordinary circumstances as a comedy.

Summary of Ulysses

The book was grouped in threes, (Homer's favourite number) separated from the twelve adventures (in four triads).

Mulligan throws Stephen Dedalus out of his Omphalos Tower. The Morning After (1) Stephen’s mother clutches at him from the underworld. Ulysses becomes an Irish Faust. This Odyssey takes place in heaven, earth and the underworld, Joyce adopts two Gods, space and time.
Magpie and Cuckoo (2) This episode has a history lesson. The Irish are oppressed throughout history.
Why Stephen Dedalus Picks his Nose (3) Stephen’s monologue, he writes a poem, expressing love and death.
Browne and Nolan (II) Joyce matched Homer’s aim - father searching for son. Bloom balances Stephen’s edgy mind with abundant goodwill in Bloom’s mind.
Middle Earth (4) The sensory world of food. Molly reads a pornographic book. Secret messages are exchanged between Bloom and the cat.
The Other World (5) The Lotus Eaters function in time, they put it to sleep. Two letters, from Molly and Martha Clifford in the Lotus Eaters provide opposition. Bloom’s adventures in Lotus Land include meeting M’Coy and Lyons, these are Lotus Land replicas. Bloom meditates on Buddhism and Christianity. Bloom leaves the Lotus Land.
The Circle Joined (6) Bloom and Stephen work together. In Bloom's imagination the dead speak as for Odysseus in Hades. Stephen teaches in a rich boy’s school, ‘You will not be the master of others or their slave’ (III) Harsh Geometry. Joyce regards Odysseus as a man-God, Outis (no-one) and Zeus.
Blowing up Nelson’s Pillar (7). Nelson represents the defeat of Europe’s Catholic chivalry. The 1882 Phoenix Park murderers are described as ‘Clamn dever.’
A Cheese Sandwich (8) Lestrygonians were cannibals. Bloom reflects on his married life. Bloom uses his memory to defend himself against the Lestrygonians.
The Riddle of Scylla and Charybdis (9). This episode is based on Hamlet. They escape Scyllla and Charybdis by mating them. (V) The Void Opens. Only through error can one become fully human and achieve liberation in life or art. Memory is a source of personal identity.
Between Two Roaring Worlds (10). The Viceroy represents the occupying authority. Father Conmee upholds spiritual power. Bloom and Stephen disregard both.
Words Become Notes Become Words (11). The Sirens episode begins with Boylan’s song. Miss Douce pulls the beerpull just as the ‘Croppy Boy’ is hanged.
Bloom Unbound (12). Two narrators, Thersites, refers to to Odysseus blinding Cyclops. Bloom counters hatred, illusion and chauvinism. ‘History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake’
(VI) The Battle for Dublin. Ulysses adventures from Aeolus to Circe, Joyce makes statues of idealists, sentimentalityis death.
Towards Lay Sanctity (VII). In Nausicaa Blooms watch stops at 4.30. The Gods of materialism and idealism are considered in Circe.
Heroic Naughtiness (13). Bloom lands in the country of Nausicaa, Phaeacia. Love loves to love, love. The young assert their uniqueness, the old their familiarity.
Vagitus, The Word is Born (14). Odysseus crew profane the sacred cattle. Vagitus is the cry of the newborn. Stephen, is created by the English language and damned by literary tradition. Stephen and Bloom discuss foot and mouth disease. Bloom and Stephen survive a shipwreck.
The Orc (15). The Orc has many heads. In the brothel scene Bloom is crowned King Leopold I. The book’s climax is in the house of climaxes, Odysseus avoids Circe turning him into a pig. Bloom raises Ruby from the dead like Lazarus. (VIII) The New Bloomusalem. Bloom must return home. Joyce, in Circe, mastered two kingdoms - birth and death.
A Fiction Not Supreme (16). Old age is supreme. The sailor is spokesman for false art.
Le Scienza Nuova e Vecchia (17) Bloom is at home in Ithaca, the slaughter of the suitors, fidelity and infidelity coincide.
Why Molly Bloom Menstruates (18). Bloom and Molly are in the arms of Morpheus. Bloom and Stephen become like the stars on which they gaze. Molly rejects sado-masochism, her monologue is a correction. Bloom, Stephen and Molly are a trinity and a unity.

Why read Ulysses?

Ulysses is an oblique message in Dublin Greek with references to events from 1914 onwards including Michael Collins, Charles Stuart Parnell and W. B. Yeats. There are many song and music references. Ulysses lacks punctuation and demands exterme patience and perseverance to complete the book. There is a snob value in reading the book with very few completing the task.

Bloomsday, 16th June 1904, the day on which Ulysses is set is celebrated in Dublin annually with many international visitors enjoying the remnants of Joyce's 1904 Dublin. Very few buildings or artefacts survive from Joyce's Dublin. The house where The Dead is set, in Usher's Island, was restored.