I think one of the worst fates which can befall a novel is that it become revered to the point where it's shrouded in a mist of intellectualism and is totally daunting to the neophyte reader. Then it becomes the dreaded Book That Is Often Discussed But Seldom Read. Brrr! I'm pretty sure no one sits down at a desk for years on end, crafting and composing, for their work to meet that fate.
Such is the unfortunate case with James Joyce's Ulysses, which is really a fun and accessible book, it has just had now almost 90 years for it to gain a reputation as labyrinthine tome. New readers are already psyched out before they open it.
In many ways, it should be the most accessible novel. It is much like our own lives, here 105 years after the day on which it takes place, June 16, 1904. It has people engaged in mundane activities such as nasal spelunking, making tea, and so on. In some ways it's the novel about nothing, except that it reveals how behind "nothing," much is going on. Everything is going on. It is in the monent, and in all moments, just like the minds of any Hepcat Hermit. For many of us, much of what's really going on is in our heads. It has one of the easiest plots to follow, in that it takes place over a day, as most will be aware of. So it's not some crazy long Russian saga, not to mention any names. It slows life down to its actual pace. In other words, the story is moving about as fast as you're reading it.
Some people are probably initially confused by the Stream of Consciousness technique developed by Joyce to express the stray thoughts entering the minds of the characters. But the confusion is part of the technique, because if you could suddenly hear the thoughts of other people, they'd almost certainly be confusing. Think about what you've thought about in the last minute, and how much sense it would make to someone suddenly peering in.
However, there is enough direct action to be able to follow what is physically going on, so that even if the reader doesn't understand everything in the thoughts, there is a line to pursue. The meaning of some of the thoughts that seemed esoteric at first become clear later. This rewards rereading, and it's always good to read a book that will mean even more the second, third, fourth time.
It should be remembered how often we watch movies where there are flashback sequences where all is not explained, but we are conditioned to be aware all will be explained eventually, and this is a reason for following the story, not for giving up on it. Bear in mind, when the novel came out, movies were in their infancy, there was not as much to feed one's appetite for weirdness. Many of the novel's sequences can be appreciated in the way one appreciates a trippy dream sequence. You may not know what it's all supposed to mean, but it's interesting. Something else that comes to mind is song lyrics. Many lyrics may be "inside," ie their meanings known only to the songwriter, if even that, but we'll still enjoy how they sound. Speaking of trippy dream sequences, here's a beaut, from The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies.
One of the fun things about the book is that after a reading it for a while, you might go out into public and spontaneously and discreetly (or obviously, it's up to you) start making up SoC for people you see on the street. It's a way for Hepcat Hermit to amuse himself while out in public. As they glance at you, what are they thinking? Or just go ahead and read it in a public place, looking up occasionally at life as it passes as it is in the novel. As we see in the photo, Marilyn knows what time it is. Maybe you'll run into a Cool Chick who's also reading Ulysses.
One of its main characters has one of the neatest names in lit, Stephen Dedalus. This is Joyce's codename for himself. The inspirations for much of the book is Greek mythology. This might seem pretentious, but the point is that really the truths of mythology are implicit in every day events, similar to the sorts of themes Joseph Campbell would write about later. I mean, here's a cartoon that incorporates Greek mythology, and you don't think that's pretentious, do you? No, it's awesome and amazing and fun. Here Mighty Hercules battles a different Dedalus.
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