A Casual Reader’s Guide to Ulysses

By Miranda Tolsma

O, rocks!

We all have those projects that we take on to prove something to others or to ourselves. In anticipation of Elevator Repair Service’s production of Ulysses, I spent the summer reading the James Joyce novel.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read Ulysses, I’m here to assure you that you can still enjoy the theatrical adaptation of the novel, which, as its director notes, “uses only Joyce’s words, but not all of them.” (While the audio version of Ulysses clocks in at over 18 hours, the stage production is only 2 hours and 40 minutes, including intermission.)

When I began, I was only tangentially aware of Ulysses‘s reputation (it is considered by many the second most difficult book in the English language, the first being Finnegan’s Wake, also by James Joyce). But by the time I realized what I had taken on, pride left me no choice but to follow through.

Overview

Ulysses was, in short, a difficult read but ultimately a rewarding one. The text is dense, references erudite and dated, and perspectives shifting between a character’s internal monologue to a third person narrator without a line break or punctuation to distinguish between them. James Joyce himself bragged,

“I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.”

Professors have indeed spent a century arguing over it, with some scholars dedicating their entire careers to studying the book.¹

As a bit of background, James Joyce spent about seven years writing Ulysses. First published in its entirety in 1922, it has been celebrated as a modernist masterpiece and an achievement in Irish literature. At the same time, its controversial descriptions of sexuality caused it to be banned and censored across the globe, including in the United States.

The novel is grounded in Dublin and takes place on a single day, June 16, 1904. In honor of the book and its protagonist, June 16 is dubbed “Bloomsday” — a holiday that is still celebrated with readings of the novel and tours along the exact routes its characters took.

Characters and Plot

There are three main characters in Ulysses. Our protagonist is Leopold Bloom, a Jewish husband, father, and advertising agent who spends his day wandering about in Dublin, trying to distract himself from his knowledge that his wife’s lover will be paying her a visit while he’s out.

We also spend time with Stephen Dedalus, a struggling teacher and a stand-in character for Joyce himself. Finally, Leopold’s wife, Molly, who narrates the final chapter, delivering a lengthy, punctuationless stream of consciousness monologue (which I’m told is quite a tour-de-force in the staged production!).

We follow Bloom throughout his day as he wanders, attends a funeral, sells newspaper ads, and tries to avoid thinking of the affair Molly is having that afternoon. There’s a lot more that I’m glossing over, but Ulysses’s plot often feels more like a series of events in a trenchcoat. Why then is this novel such a classic? 

Let’s start with The Odyssey.

The Odyssey

Ulysses is inspired by and directly parallels Homer’s epic poem. Indeed the title “Ulysses” is the Latinisation of the name Odysseus. Every chapter in Joyce’s book is named for a segment of The Odyssey, and the plot’s structure mirrors its events.

Furthermore, each character in Joyce’s novel has a direct parallel to one of Homer’s, though Joyce twists some of the expectations created by these parallels. Bloom, who spends his entire day roaming around Dublin before finally retreating home, is our Odysseus, who spends 10 years facing various perils on his long journey home.

But instead of loyal wife Penelope waiting for him, Bloom has Molly, whom he knows is actively cheating on him. Stephen Dedalus fills the role of Odysseus’ son Telemachus. Stephen is estranged from his father, and Bloom had a son who died as a baby (a factor in his fraying relationship with Molly), and the two develop a filial sort of connection over time. All secondary and minor characters have an Odyssey counterpart as well.

These parallels are interesting, but they alone do not make a masterpiece. It’s time to talk schema.

Schema

Each chapter — or “episode” — in Ulysses is written in its own style and corresponds with its own art, organ of the body, color, and more. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Joyce kindly wrote two tables (referred to as schema) to help his friends understand the book, the Linati schema and the Gilbert schema, which break it down.

Of all these columns, I found the technic, or style, to be both the most interesting and readily apparent. Some of Joyce’s narrative styles are well-established techniques like monologue or catechism.

My favorite technic was found in Chapter 11, “Sirens.” “Fuga per canonem” is the Latin term used for a musical round. As befits its title, this chapter is filled with music. The first 62 lines appear to be utter nonsense. But these act as the chapter’s overture. Everything that shows up in these first 62 lines reappears later, with meaning provided by context. The chapter is also filled with onomatopoeia, repeating words and meanings, lending it a lyrical quality.

What’s the Point?

All of this begs the question: why on earth did Joyce do all this?

These techniques elevate a story about the banalities of daily existence to the status of an epic. As Joyce described in a letter to his brother, he was “converting the bread of everyday life into something that has a permanent artistic life of its own.” A day’s wandering is ultimately no different than a 10-year journey, which is just a series of many individual days. Our ordinary lives are art, just as much as any story.

That’s the poetic answer. But of course, Joyce also used Ulysses to show off his own writing ability and cement his place in history. And I’ve not even touched on the multitude of themes he addresses within its pages, including nationalism, antisemitism, religion, and sexuality.

The Enduring Allure of Ulysses

The more time and effort you put into reading and studying Ulysses, the more you’ll get out of it. But in part, it’s meant to fly over readers’ heads. Despite the book being around for over a century, plenty of mysteries remain that will no doubt keep scholars active for another 100 years.

Looking ahead, I’m so excited to see Elevator Repair Service’s take on the classic novel. I expect the theatrical form will make it far easier to understand the events on the page, eliminating the struggle of determining the speaker (though with seven actors playing more than two dozen roles, there will no doubt still be some confusion!). The play promises to take audiences on a fast-forward tour of the novel, with stops in all 18 episodes. Listen carefully and see if you can spot the difference in writing styles, or sit back and let the chaos and artistry of this amazing and unconventional theater company wash over you.

And if you’ve never read the novel, you’ll at least be able to say you’ve experienced it. October 19-20, 2024 at the Power Center in Ann Arbor.

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1. Patrick Hastings’ UlyssesGuide.com was an invaluable resource that aided in my own comprehension.