Ulysses (novel)

Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce. The complete book was first published in 1922, although parts of it had appeared earlier. It was an early example of "stream of consciousness" writing. This attempts to give the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue (see below), or in connection to his or her actions. Stream-of-consciousness writing is usually regarded as a special form of interior monologue.

The story takes place on 16 June 1904, and is about a man named Leopold Bloom, who walks around Dublin. The book also tells the story of Molly Bloom, his wife, and of Stephen Dedalus, a school teacher.

The book became famous for several reasons, but mainly because it is written in a new this style. The book is now thought to be important modernist literature. Many professors and teachers teach this book in universities and colleges.

Background

Joyce first encountered Odysseus in Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses - an adaptation of the Odyssey for children. This seemed to establish the Greek name in Joyce's mind. At school he wrote an essay on Ulysses as his 'favourite hero'. Joyce told Frank Budgen that he considered Ulysses the only all-round character in literature. He thought about calling Dubliners by the name Ulysses in Dublin, but the idea grew from a story in Dubliners in 1906, to a 'short book' in 1907, to the vast novel which he began writing in 1914.

Related pages

• Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century

Other websites

• Ulysses at Project Gutenberg
• A brief satirical summary of Ulysses with illustrations Archived 2005-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
• A large website discussing Ulysses Archived 2013-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
• The text of Joseph Collins's 1922 New York Times review of Ulysses
• A hypertextual, self-referential, complete edition of Ulysses Archived 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Daedalus and Odysseus: Two Mythic Heroes Influencing Fatherhood as Represented in James Joyce’s Ulysses Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
• Group audio recording of novel