Ulysees
This novel published in 1922, has been claimed to have changed the face of
literature and to have revolutionised
the novel in the 20th Century. The book is set on the day of June 16, 1904 and chronicles a day in the life of Leopold Bloom - a Jew - as he goes wandering around his native Dublin, much akin to the Greek epic, The Odyssey of Ulyssees (Odysseus) from whom the novel takes its name.
The book starts off early in the morning, as the central character - Bloom - leaves his home at 7 Eccles Street to go on his daily errands and ramble. What ensues is a vast cameo of events and adventures crammed into one day, as metaphorically speaking, a lifetime in the microcosm of 24 hours. Bloom stops off in Conways pub, in which he debates with a drunk customer, on the qualities of the Jewish race; as a genuine Jew who could trace his lineage back through the Hungarian line, he is compelled to challenge the local pundit and has to flee the pub in danger of being lynched by the anti-semitic drunkard.
He comes upon the funeral of old Paddy Dignam, on its way to the famous and herculean Glasnevin Cemetery; he passed down the great thoroughfare of O'Connell Street, passing over the River Liffey and encounters characters and people along the way; has lunch in Davey Byrnes pub in Duke Street, which comprised of a Gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of burgundy; he makes an appearance in the Ormond hotel on the other side of the Liffey, where the musical chapter ‘The Sirens' takes place; takes a stroll out to the Martello tower at Sandycove, to visit his friend Buck Mulligan; after which, has a tryst - an erotic experience - with a lady on the beach. Returning to Dublin, he wiles the night away in The Monto - Montgomery Street, the redlight district at the time eventually getting thrown out and staggers home in a drunken state.
In the midst of all this, Joyce through the voice of Bloom, outlines the history of the Irish race, Ireland, Dublin, its streets, its sites, the commercial nexus of the city, its pulse, its epicentre, its veins and arteries; in essence every component and part of the fabric of Dublin - of its topography - in voluminous detail. James Joyce's research and erudition is truly awesome (he studied the old ‘Thom's Directories' and detailed maps for years, which gave him this colossal
knowledge). Also, Bloom displays a remarkable knowledge and flair for languages, improvising and inventing expressions and lyricalisms and conveys a great sensibility for Dublin colloquialisms.
Herein lies the power and the influence of Ulysses: Joyce changed fundamentally the structure of the novel, he used no punctuation, to give it an uninterrupted flow; the wordplay and punning is infinite, done in a totally unique way. To cite but one example, Bloom breaks up the word Castile into cast steel. It's these innovative verbalisings, fusions of linguistic expressions and colloquialisms, its encyclopaedic knowledge, which makes it one of the most influential novels that
literature has ever been bequeathed. All that one ever wanted to know about Dublin and indeed Ireland, its history, its people, its culture, its idiosyncracies, its charms, its contradictions, its betrayals, its heartaches, can be found here narrated through the medium of Leopold Bloom in one solitary day.
Small wonder that June 16, has been immortalised in the annual calendar as ‘Bloomsday'. Ulysees is totally unique, a pioneering work in English literature produced by an Irish writer in exile, which contains a wealth of information, linguistic flair, a descriptive genius, an intricate awareness of the layout of Dublin, its heartbeats, its resonances, its good and bad, its charm. James Joyce gave the world a modern odyssey of his native Dublin.