FROM THE FOREWORD
By now, no one needs debate the merits of Ulysses; it is one of the greatest novels of all time and a worthwhile addition to any collection.
However, when Ulysses was first published in The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach in 1922, it caused a sensation.
Audiences and critics alike had never read anything like it; the book's acrid dissonances and sexually satanic rhythms seemed positively barbaric.
Today, Ulysses still has the power to shock. With inimitable dramatic flair, James Joyce conducts a performance so ferocious that the writing seems as revolutionary as it did on those historic days when it was first published.
Ulysses is not a "pretty" story, but Joyce fleshes out the shadows and conflicting mood swings that made Leopold and Molly Bloom (and Stephen Dedalus) such mercurial characters.
Ulysses is a dark, moving depiction of the life of brave rebellious, idiosyncratic men and women who pay a heavy toll for their passions. Ulysses redefines the novel. Its tumbling, hallucinogenic prose is a coiled spring that explores the depths of the author's psyche to a level never seen before.
In Ulysses, Joyce has transcended his previous works. It lives up to the legend—and has firmly established him in the pantheon of twentieth century masters.
The last section, Penelope, Molly Bloom's soliloquy, demonstrates his uncanny ability to draw the listener into a ravishing evocation of pagan nights whose mystery and sensuality shine with hypnotic beauty.
Even after nearly 100 years this free form prose/poetry tour de force still sounds fresh, scary, new and beautiful. Astonishing really. You will find it immensely gratifying.
PHILIP DOSSICK
JAMES JOYCE, (1882-1941) Irish novelist and poet is one of the most famous and controversial writers of the 20th century. Ulysses his Homer-inspired masterwork, was banned, criticized, and censored on moral grounds, with its detractors calling it obscene and incomprehensible, obviously the work of a madman.
Today it is considered one of the supreme modernist masterpieces of the 20th century.
He was the author of the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegans Wake (1939). His collections of poetry include Chamber Music (1907) and Pomes Penyeach (1927).
