Okay, he isn’t sci-fi or fantasy, but James Joyce is one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century. Born 133 years ago today, The Irish author penned arguably the greatest novel, Ulysses, and arguably the most unreadable, Finnegan’s Wake. And that’s not even including such works as Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man, or Dubliners.
Ulysses is dense, experimental and one of the most difficult novels I have ever read, but also one of the most rewarding. I truly believe my life has been enriched by Molly Bloom’s monologue, the long, hypnotic, obscene and beautiful climax of the novel. Listen for yourself below, it truly is magnificent, even if the filmmaking has dated badly. Yes.
So hoist a glass of Guinness to Ireland’s greatest writer. Yes.
— Michael Senft
Yes. Joyce has written some of the sentences that resonate most with me. I don’t think of myself as loving Joyce the writer, but I certainly love some of the ways he has written.
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That’s a fair statement – and I don’t know if I ever would have tackled Ulysses were it not for upper division 20th Century Lit. courses! I kind of think Finnegan’s Wake is pretentious garbage, but Molly’s soliloquy is way up there among the greatest things I’ve ever read.
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