Saturday, August 22, 2009

Started Ulysses

Started Ulysses and I think I have the countdown set. I'll see next time I log in. Problem... Since I'm the only one on here I guess I won't worry about it too much....but my service went down and won't be fixed for 4 days. Not a good way to start a daily blog, but that is the way it is. I'm at Borders using the service. Of course they want a daily fee to use their service. I tell ya, they get ya coming and going!

In regard to Ulysses ummm, yeah! So I went to the used book store, tons of James Joyce, but only one binding that said Ulysses so I grabbed it and went on my merry way. When I got home I noticed it was the study guide which made no sense to me at all. Then I came to Borders and spent $22. on a new copy of Ulysses. My husband said, "How much was that?" To which I told him "$22.". "$22. the guy died like 70 something years ago, what the hell?" As if because the book was written along time ago, it should be like buying a VHS recorder at a yardsale!

Anyway, the guide was so confusing I couldn't imagine what the book would be like. Apparently it follows Homer's Odyssius (spelling???) which I have never read. I took Greek mythology years ago, so I'm not completely inept, but almost. I know the basic premise of the story but not sure it's helping at all. Especially with the inner thoughts of the main character Stephen Deladus. Wow! Chapter 3.... holy horrors. A person, who will remain nameless, who also read the book years ago (I'm sure one can figure out who said person is) thinks that Ulysses is one of those books written for intellectuals so they feel they have to understand it and rate it as the #1 book because they're snobs, but for the common person it is ridiculous and wouldn't even be on any list, unless it was the "I will only read this book if Assigned and hate every minute of it List" . I don't know, I do like the characters and the dialogue. The narratives jump around so much it is hard to follow much of the time. It is like listening to a conversation through a door (not that I would ever do this), you're catching bits and pieces and kind of get the gist of it, but have to make a lot of assumptions.
I don't have the book with me, didn't want to bring it back into Borders and be accused of jacking it (at this point probably no-one would believe anybody would want to jack Ulysses), so I can't really comment on it too much.
The main characters are : Stephen, Mulligan, (some English guy, I'll get back to him), Mr. Bloom and Mrs. Bloom. The book is quite graphic in some spots, which is no biggie today, but I can imagine the scandal in the 20's. Anyway, I'll read it until Wednesday and then log back on, unless I drag myself over here in the mean time.
All for now.
Kris

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