Well after the slow plough through chapter eight I expected things could only get more difficult but I fair raced through chapter nine. Why that is I don’t know because I understood less of it than any other chapter! Okay so it finally dawned on me they were in a library and Stephen was giving of his opinions on Shakespeare with particular emphasis on Hamlet. Haines has been and gone apparently. Mulligan shows up late on and appears to be his usual self – lowering the tone with his clever twisting of every ‘serious’ subject into a juvenile gag. The wandering Jew they pass at the end of the chapter must be Bloom. Having missed nearly every allusion going in this chapter I think I at least got the main thrust of it (though I may even be wrong about that) if none of the subtlety. I assume there is some – never having read any Shakespeare. (more…)

Phew! This was a toughie as described previously. Chiefly because the ‘real’ narrative only kicks in halfway through – the first part concerned with Leopold’s internal ramblings and musing on subjects diverse! So for the first part we are taken along with Leo on a walk around the city looking for some lunchtime sustenance. I think we’re all too familiar with Mr Bloom’s quirky fondness for food and the resultant action upon his system. We won’t be disappointed here. But that’s ahead of us. First we have to ponder the what and the why as to his train of thoughts for the first sixteen or so pages of Laestrygonians. (more…)

I refuse all help – and look where it gets me! This latest chapter is, I’m sure, no harder than the others but I think accumulation is the problem here. Part of me says “enough already” and I’m tempted to just look the bloody answers up online or in the notes at the back or in a separate book altogether. But another part of me says “what’s the point of reading a puzzle book if someone else has already filled in all the answers?” That is surely even less fun than ploughing on regardless!

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Oh Jesus Christ! The chapter referred to by you scholarly types as Aeolus was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever read. Perhaps it’s no harder than the other chapters but I seem to have hit my first wall! In the struggle to find certain ground I find myself in a group of people talking way over my head – and to make matters worse ignoring me too! My post title refers to my feelings on the matter. I press on, but this chapter leaves me dizzy and I have to put it down every few pages to rest. Maybe I’m just going through a phase – can’t seem to string two words together right now – and I thought reading and writing were two different concerns! Anyhow, if a man puts a straw boater behind his red face – does that make him a tit? Sometimes Ulysses makes me wonder if I’m actually reading or just hallucinating – with words! (more…)

This is a grim read for a Friday morning but at least it is a chapter with more elements in a reasonably straight forward manner. Straight forward for Ulysses that is, but still there is no real problem discerning the narrative – I’m almost beginning to enjoy it!

Before I forget, there are lines occasionally which seem to echo previous words, spoken or thought, but for the first time reader it’s sometimes difficult to locate and divine the meaning of the repetition, or if it even occurred at all. So before I wade through the facts and try to put them in proper order – could anyone tell me anything about the line “I do not like that other world she wrote”. (more…)