NationStates Jolt Archive

What do you think of him?

I dig him, but mostly by proxy from a friend who digs him a whole lot.

Never got through Ulysses (and have two English degrees--how'd I manage that?), looked and Finnegan's Wake and said "what the fuck?" but liked Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and some of the short stories.

Im just starting to read "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" for the 2nd time, can someone help me? I'm struggling to get the gist of the novel.

From what I understand(or I think I understand) Stephen is an avatar of Ireland, when he is a young boy he is surrounded by big intimidating figures in the jesuit school, like Ireland being surrounded by massive colonial powers early in its history, when he is an adolescent he is rebellious and gets himself into trouble, sort of lik Irelands rebellions against british rule. When he is an adult he is just sort of broken, like Ireland after so much warfare.....Am I right/on to something??

looked and Finnegan's Wake and said "what the fuck?"

Ah, yes... good ol' Finnegans Wake. If you haven't had the chance to peruse this fanciful work, just click on over and browse this free e-text (http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/F1-1.htm). Trust me... you'll love it.

I am taking a semester long course on Ulysses because of a schedualing mishap and I think I'm going to die. I read quickly for my age, but I find I have to spend hours trying to get what he means, or at least what my English teacher thinks he means. And I had to buy, with my own money, Ulysses Annotated, which is even longer than the original book, and just as hard to read. Grrr.... (btw, I'm still a pathetic high school senior who is NOT a good English student)

Addition to my whiny rant: Everyone else in the stupid course who gets him totally and can spend hours analyzing EVERY SINGLE FUCKING SENTANCE that Joyce ever wrote while I just struggle to get C's on the stupid papers.

GAAAAAAA!!!!! I just had to take a semester mid term that was based on Joyce. We had to read Portrait along with three short stories: "Eveline," "Araby," and "The Boarding House." God must hate me.

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang:

HE'S A MOTHERFUCKIN' PIRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(just like me)



(arrrrrggggghhhhh!)

Never got through Ulysses (and have two English degrees--how'd I manage that?), looked and Finnegan's Wake and said "what the fuck?" but liked Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and some of the short stories.

...you made it through two degrees without reading Ulysses?

I've had to read it twice. And I have no degree.

You might have just moved up the hero scale.

I had to read Ulysses for an English Lit course I did. It was torture.

He's okay. I stopped reading Ulysses at some point, but will probably start again at some point.
I think I like his ideas more than his writing.

...you made it through two degrees without reading Ulysses?

I've had to read it twice. And I have no degree.

You might have just moved up the hero scale.
I focused on poetry. Of course, that means I've read The Divine Comedy at least five times (in various translations) as well as significant amounts of Milton, Wordsworth and Eliot. And the one that stings--I've read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" more times than I can count. And I'll never read it again.

I focused on poetry. Of course, that means I've read The Divine Comedy at least five times (in various translations)...

AAAARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
Learn italian... It's MUCH better in the original than any translation i had the misfortune to look into.

IMO the problem with Joyce are the uncountable idiotic critics that tell you what the writer had in mind when he wrote this or that word.

An irish friend of mine said:
"To undrstand Joyce takes years and years of experience. And you have to be irish."

:)

James Joyce is a lolicon http://209.85.12.231/1424/192/emo/banana.gif

AAAARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
Learn italian... It's MUCH better in the original than any translation i had the misfortune to look into.

I took just enough Italian to realize I'd never learn it without being immersed in it, but it helped when looking at the original on the facing page. One class actually involved looking at multiple translations at the same time and comparing them--that was an interesting class, but we only got through Inferno and Purgatorio.

I like him, but he should've stuck to short stories.

I took just enough Italian to realize I'd never learn it without being immersed in it, but it helped when looking at the original on the facing page. One class actually involved looking at multiple translations at the same time and comparing them--that was an interesting class, but we only got through Inferno and Purgatorio.Am I the only one who likes Purgatorio more than Inferno? It seems to be the hip thing to only ever talk about the first book and so few people I meet have ever gone further.

BTW, James Joyce="The Dead" which is awesome, everything else is pure agony for the non-genius and non-Irish.

What do you think of him?

Never met him.

But I enjoyed Ulysses.

Favourite chapters:
Stephen Dedalus walking along the beach.
Bloom cooking the kidney and going to the funeral
Nausica's orgasm at the beach
Bloom and Dedalus re-united
Molly Bloom going to sleep

Half-blind ex-patriot Irishman living in Paris ... what's not to like?

Am I the only one who likes Purgatorio more than Inferno? It seems to be the hip thing to only ever talk about the first book and so few people I meet have ever gone further.

BTW, James Joyce="The Dead" which is awesome, everything else is pure agony for the non-genius and non-Irish.You may be. Purgatorio was okay, much better than Paradiso for me, but my favorite will probably always be Inferno.

Half-blind ex-patriot Irishman living in Paris ... what's not to like?

You know the story about Finnegan's Wake, where William Burroughs (I think it was him) was taking dictation from Joyce, who couldn't see well enough to write it out, and someone knocked on the door of the apartment. Joyce called out, "Come in," and went on dictating. Later, when Burroughs was reading back that section, Joyce stopped him and asked, "Where did that 'Come in' come from?" Burroughs answered, "You said that while you were dictating." Joyce thought about it, realized what happened, and said, "Leave it in."

I forget where in the book it is, though, but there's a totally extraneous "Come in" in there somewhere.

I focused on poetry. Of course, that means I've read The Divine Comedy at least five times (in various translations) as well as significant amounts of Milton, Wordsworth and Eliot. And the one that stings--I've read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" more times than I can count. And I'll never read it again.

ahh...that makes sense.
I just read Rime (again. Third time). I created a little theory after that.

Colridge on a little opium: The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison.
Colridge on a lot of opium: Rime of the Ancient Mariner

I loved Paradise Lost tho.

I hear he got a hand-job once...