Ulysses is one of the best books I've ever read. I like the social takes, but for me it is all about streams of consciousness. There are more perfect books, but Ulysses captures the complexity of a human soul in a moment in time. Although Dedalus is more showy, Bloom’s ordinary heroics win you over. It is an exercise in observation - the closer you look at life the more there is to see. There is method in the madness.

I think Ulysses is a must read for everyone who is interested in the philosophy of language.

@jackj.pelletier1666

Жыл бұрын

I'm reading the book right now, and having heard that Circe is written in a chronological chart of the English language, I'm beyond excited to get there. I bought it in a Barcelona bookstore a week ago and decided it was finally time to read through it having devoured and loved The Sound and The Fury and The Brothers Karamazov in the past few weeks. It is my favorite book so far, and nothing can come close to how he writes with language, not even the copious amount of poetry I have read.

@czgibson3086

8 ай бұрын

@@jackj.pelletier1666 "having heard that Circe is written in a chronological chart of the English language" You're thinking of Oxen of the Sun. Circe is written like a playscript.

@OLBK

2 ай бұрын

100% and then Finnegan:)

In light of Finnegans Wake, Ulysses seems to have offered Joyce a proof of concept that he didn't fully realise until The Wake was published. The best moments in Ulysses are scattered, but in them Joyce just flies. And then in The Wake he actually finally flies "wayawayawayawayawayaway". . .

I wrote my senior thesis on Joyce’s Ulysses. I’ve read it quite a few times, and it is one of the few books I would call nearly inexhaustible. I teach English and was planning on going to Dublin (I have never been) with some of my Russian students right before Covid happened. Sadly it didn’t happen, but I hope to go someday. Just found your channel and subbed, btw!

Excellent. I loved what you said about fiction transforming us in subconscious way, opening us to alternative experiences. Great analysis!

Language is a central challenge in the hardest book I have ever read as well; "The Visions of Isobel Gowdie," a 500+ page work of cultural anthropology by Emma Wilby. It contains long passages from Isobel's 17th century witch trial confessions, which are in a Scots brogue-ish English that is sometimes barely readable, sometimes utterly dense and alien. There is no phrasebook or Babbel course for this dialect, the reader must simply parse it word by word from the unaltered transcript! Not unlike with the Elizabethan English of Shakespeare, it can sometimes help to read the passages aloud, and the familiar English words can begin to emerge from the thick, phonetically transcribed dialect. I really want to revisit this "most difficult book" again, and apply some of the better learning techniques I'm picking up from your vids, including a Commonplace Book. Happy reading, and keep up the great content!

I'll have to try again with this novel. I put it down last summer about 500 pages in. At the time I felt as if I was forcing myself through a miserable experience. Picked up Journey to the End of the Night, and didn't look back. Watching this has convinced me to try again, after I finish Underworld.

Waldun, It's probably really harsh to make your videos like this but... Wow, it's amazing to watch it in full screen. Very beautiful images, very beautiful job! Big fan from Brazil!

My Ulysses is just looking at me from the shelf and waiting for me to pick him up. After this video I feel like it is finally time to give him some attention, thank you!

I love the aesthetic of your videos. Top notch ‘dark academia’ vibe 👌🏼

Interesting advice especially about listening to an audio book in the background!

Joyce is one of my favorite writers of the 20th century. Even though I don't understand all of what he is writing, the music infused in his prose makes the experience of reading his work highly memorable and satisfying. For me listening to his work as an audio book, being recited with an Irish accent is the best way to take in his books, in front of a fireplace being the ideal location.

Thank you for sharing great video. Love all of yours

Thank you so much for this video! It’s so interesting

Love this series!!!

You just gave me a whole new look at the work of Joyce

I recommend you to read "Snow Country" by Yasunari Kawabata who won the Nobel prize for literature.the book illustrates the japanese traditional policy called "Monono Aware"

Actually re-reading Prague cementery by Umberto Eco and I feel same kind of energy for that. I am in love and also I feel urge to buy Ulysess even more 😅

I haven't combed through your archive so idk if you've done it already, but another great comic work that feels like it's often taken too seriously (at least, ime) is Don Quixote. At least dq has numerous adaptations that I've been able to watch, which are easier to digest than the original text, but they also lose a lot of the inherent humor imo. It really is a brick, though, and a dense one at that. So I'd love to see you do a video on it (if you haven't already, ofc) but also... probably not just after reading Ulysses, lol.

Very well put together break down 👏

thank you for this, i will surely now pick it up from my tbr, was nervous.

Also it's wild to me to even consider putting on an audiobook while reading a book-- from what you said, not like whisper sync that audible does, that can be helpful sometimes. It sounded like you were suggesting a separate book altogether? And I don't doubt that puts you in an interesting headspace, but with my overstimulation & processing issues, that sounds like a quick ticket to my brain going into minor Language_Processing.exe Is Not Responding, and if I kept trying anyway a metaphorical bsod, ie a migraine. Maybe I could do it, but with my issues, I'm not willing to risk it. This isn't to say "suggestion bad," sorry if any of the above comes off that way, I'm bad at regulating tone. I'm just marveling at the way that your experience of the book will always be fundamentally much different than mine-- even more than is true of any book or experience.

It's interesting to note that Virginia Woolf changed her tune on Joyce later in life. Her very criticism couldn't help citing class in the brazen way of the downpunching upper classes. I find this sort of humor harmless and natual. Yet I think she was self-conscious enough to acknowledge in the end that the one giving her a run for her money was a working-man who actually said "c**t" in a book.

Did you read an annotated version or the original version? I think that would change the reading experience. You said that the reader should try to flow with the book and read it intuitively instead of trying to decipher each and every allusion; enjoy the confusion. Fair enough. However, IMO the abrupt nature of Joyce's writing breaks immersion and makes it harder for me to actually "flow" and read the book intuitively. See, confusion can be fun, but it's not fun when you're lost after every paragraph and just reading syllables on a paper with any sort of understanding. It becomes equivalent to noise in music. It's like trying to read a book in another language except you don't actually know how to read that language. That type of confusion isn't fun and the book can't be read intuitively or at all. There are many other books that are easier to read intuitively, intentionally confusing, and more fun. As an average reader who doesn't care about the evolution of art and references (I'm not a lit student) and reads novels mostly for fun, the James Joyce comes across as elitist and pretentious. People who like him say, "Oh, you don't like the book, that's because you don't have the huge background knowledge to read it." or "Oh you're unable to enjoy because you're not intuitively reading it", "It's suppose to be a joke" (as if... only a select few people can see its beauty and others are blind). It reminds me of some of the crazy books our Uni. profs made us read, which no one liked, except the prof, but then he would turn around and say it's because we can't see the beauty which he can. Not to say your opinion of him is invalid or anything, I am just sharing how I felt reading it.

@erik-sr9bj

2 жыл бұрын

Valid opinion. I like when people discuss and share their views on topics in a civilized way

@bughead5615

2 жыл бұрын

@@erik-sr9bj I think there's the difference between mass entertainment and art. Art takes intellectual effort to comprehend, that simulates and develops your brain. Entertainment is for killing time, not to say not important. If you're looking for a time killer, you'd rather stick wth wattpad and dan brown my guy. Try not to call art elitist and pretentious just because you're not interested in it enough to put in the effort to comprehend it. If you don't understand a language, and want to, you try to learn it. Calling a language “pretentious” just because you're not willing to work to understand it does not do.

@erik-sr9bj

2 жыл бұрын

@@bughead5615 dude i haven't slept in 3 days I have no idea what's going on

@salaciouspancakes

18 күн бұрын

​@@erik-sr9bj get off the meth

Great insight... thanks

Fun fact: Joyce and Woolf were born in the same year (1882) and also died in the same year (1941).

Best video yet 👌

where is episode 1 of this series? whats its name? cant seem to find it

@RCWaldun

2 жыл бұрын

It’s the video before this one on Henry David Thoreau.

Where is episode 1? I can't find it, anyone got a link?

only complaint- there is definitely merit to a second, “meaning-mining” slow reading, wherein allusions and language elements are untangled and examined, but specifically because of the impact that it has on a third, fast again reading. it’s like “getting” the inside jokes that way, opens up new levels to connect to the characters, especially with stephen. good video, though :)

What were your favorite episodes and why? Any notable paragraph that you liked? Any pun you struggled with?

I think Ulysses describes life in general. It brings up a new perspective to me: How funny, childish, stupid it seems from the outside and how serious it gets when you are stuck in your own thoughts. For example Hades. From the outside the dialogue of all these strange characters is quite comical. But the depth of life is provided by the breathtaking stream of consciousness of Leopold Bloom. Great video! Informal and differentiated arguments, enjoyed watching.

I am curious to know, is English your first language?

Damn bro. Ur the real deal. This was lovely

@RCWaldun

4 ай бұрын

I try my best. :)

Ulysses and Finegans wake are my two favourite books, they are both Disneylands of words.

Wonderful quality as usual !

is it possible to pull off dark academia look with jeans?

@arch_dornan6066

Жыл бұрын

🙄

Finished Ulysses? Now you're ready for the Wake!

The next (and almost impossible) step is Finnegans Wake 😅🤣 Great video!!

He speaks on how there isn’t enough time, and how we can never catch up with literature

@herrklamm1454

Жыл бұрын

Who does?

Bruhhh I was here when R.C. had around (100k followers, I think), before he had moved and I left for a bit. Coming back, JEEZ DUDE your video quality just shot up

The only problem I have with James Joyce is his ex-pat existence. Never coming back to the home of his birth I consider weakness. The second problem is his love hate of English which is the conquerors language. And is now pretty much his language. He mastered English to be such a literati but probably was full of guilt writing in the conqueror’s language.

To preserve the culture of ancient Ireland (which was disappearing under British imperialism & Roman Catholicism) with “Ulysses” James Joyce (a painter with languages, who was working in the context of modernism, a period when everyone was trying to innovate with newness) created a mosaic of a looking glass for his vulgar contemporaries to see themselves as they were, the good and the bad. The best way to flow with this performance of all the flavors of a day in Dublin 1904 (mixed with impossible to trace Judeo-Greek allusions that you don’t have to understand in order to “get” the feeling and the point of the book) is to listen to the Audio format of the masterpiece, because it simulates that effect of you passing through the streets of Dublin 1904 and eavesdropping on different conversations like a time traveler who will surely come out of this magical fun experience with expanded consciousness and a snobbish eye patch.

I haven't read it yet, but now it's in my tbr. It makes me remember the book we have to read to study to the entrance exam for universities here in Brazil - it's called "Os Sertões" by Euclides da Cunha. It has an English version called "Backlands: The Canudos Campaign". The book is separated in three parts and the author describes in the first one the land where everything happened, in the second part, the people that live there, and in the third the "war" itself. The Enligh version of the title gives away what the book talks about, but in portuguese, if you had never heard anything about the book, the title wouldn't say anything about it, but, anyway... Thank you for another great video!

@marcelmiguelc

2 жыл бұрын

o terror que foi tentar ler isso pro vestibular... até hoje não tive coragem de tentar novamente

@joaovictor_of

2 жыл бұрын

Eu nunca li os sertões. Obrigado por me lembrar de colocar na lista, que só aumenta hahaha

@filipemarcelino3754

2 жыл бұрын

As partes que ele descreve a geografia... Insuportável kkkk

I like the new style

@ThusSpokeHaven

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjordan355 I have, review comes sunday!

I clicked so quick on the video because the thumbnail has my name

Little critique: Seamus is pronounced ‘shay-muss’ not ‘sha-muss’.

Interesting take, although there's also a lot of hilarity and joy that can be gotten out of understanding Joyce's allusions. At the very least, I think you'll miss something from the book if you don't understand the major things he's parodying. Not to say you need to in order to appreciate it, but I don't think it's at all wrongheaded (or against Joyce's intention) to go into this book with an understanding of mythology, philosophy, theology, and Shakespeare. The way I read it was to build my knowledge first, then tackle the book in the way you suggested (letting myself stumble and laugh over the parts I didn't understand).

@zainabjamshaid2101

2 жыл бұрын

I’m an avid reader and Ulysses has been on my tbr for quite a long time so what I’d like to ask you is how did you build your knowledge specifically ? I mean did you read his other works, odyssey, or Shakespeare and which ones ?

This book has been on my TBR forever. I have “A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man”. Also haven’t read that either.

Love it, do Alan Bennett next! Please?

You've done it again. First with Norweigian Wood, then The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and now Ulysses. I just might run out of room on my shelf because of you.

well waldun meme'd me into reading Ulysses bought a copy for $4 off ebay, free shipping

Ulysses is to literature what calculus is to math.

I want to read Ulysses! I just wonder whether or not I should read the Odyssey and the Bible first, to understand what's going on

@kalkwiese

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjordan355 thank you! I will take this into consideration :)

@kalkwiese

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjordan355 Just read it. Very interesting. I've got to say, that a challenge for reading fiction. I totally get when people don't want to do this, but doing it out of free will is a different thing

@kalkwiese

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjordan355 you know, I'm not a literature student, but a chemistry student, so I read stuff like the books by Günter Grass for fun. And I want to tackle Ulysses maybe next year :)

I’ll be reading Ulysses for the first time soon and this video was really useful for me.

@RCWaldun

4 ай бұрын

Thanks Richard! Stay tuned because I’m working on a new series: Ulysses: the theoretical minimum because I’ve learned so much more about the book since this video and I’m so exited to put it into an in-depth video series. :)

@RichardShortland-Neal

4 ай бұрын

@@RCWaldun I’ve also added David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow into the mix as I want to push my reading. I’ve also picked up Moby Dick so I have something a bit lighter to read as well.

I am almost finished Dubliners. Only 1 more story to go. I didn't enjoy most of the stories. My plan is to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before moving on to Ulysses. The only language that I am familiar with is Canadian English.

What a great video!!!

❤

이러는 이유가 모야..

i thought finnigans wake was more difficult

BroYour Age, Because I am literature student who lost in thoughts

It would have been nice if his language/identity angst had caused Joyce to actually learn and use the Irish language; and maybe acknowledge the fourth sphere/world he failed to name, that of Irish myth. He was more colonized than he knew. :-/

@erik-sr9bj

2 жыл бұрын

lmao, good point

@macnacailli

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjordan355 Oh, he took a lesson or two, that’s real commitment to the culture. 😉 Seeing the revival as a ‘retreat’ rather than a pulling forward and enlivening movement is, in itself, drinking the colonial cool-aid - to be modern is to be British, is bs. We’re also repeating two sides of a discourse that was happening back then too, so,I guess nothing changes.🤷‍♂️ Also, I never said I was smarter than Joyce, just that (a century later) we’re more aware of how insidious colonialism is, Any thoughts on what Irish figures could have stood in for Greek figures of Telemachus or for the Cyclopes?

@sunkintree

Жыл бұрын

Joyce was aware. In Portrait of the Artist he states that it is his ancestors that allowed themselves to be subjugated, to lose their language, and he sees no reason to inherit their problems (that of saving the lost language)

@macnacailli

Жыл бұрын

@@sunkintree Wow, sounds like he chose to side with his oppressors; I guess I don't need to incude this 'west brit' on my Irish reading list.

@sunkintree

Жыл бұрын

@@macnacailli Lol, he writes about people who call him "west britons" in one of his Dubliners stories: The Dead. He states pretty clearly in Portrait that he sees himself as an Artist, not as a nationality, which is a net he needs to be wise to not be trapped under, though his cultural heritage in Ireland is unmistakable. No doubt if every Irish citizen were like him there would never be a sovereign Irish nation, but I think his relationship to his country is very interesting. At least give Dubliners a read

now read finnegans wake

Excellent

I reached about halfway thru it and stopped honestly 😭 one day ill get back to it

Joyce isn’t a really difficult writer (other than Finnegans wake), I find woolf and Faulkner to be more difficult when it comes to the stream of consciousness narrative.The only problem with Joyce is he is insanely boring and in his 3 novels that I have read absolutely nothing happened. It was the equivalent of watching paint dry.

@doberman_hund

2 жыл бұрын

you need to regain your humanity, ghoul

Brass telescope

just quoting others nonstop. nice

📍

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: uCK!

Alot of word come from your mouth

@lumieredice485

Жыл бұрын

What is this comment

@cokonutraw8800

Жыл бұрын

@@lumieredice485translation: blablah word salad

Go back to the other style of video

Whenever I'm asked how to understand Ulysses, the answer is simple - Be born and raised in Ireland.