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Disclosure: I read this immediately on the coattails of Ulysses and suspect that my relief at the termination of Ulysses may have clouded my feelings for Portrait.
In all, I rather enjoyed this short novel. The life of Stephen Daedalus, which is said to parallel Joyce, is documented from his youth to his development as an artist. I felt like the novel immersed the reader in the trappings of Irish life - boarding school, Catholicism (and a near-Jesuit recruitment), interactions with classmates, Irish nationalism, disaffection, aesthetics.... Relationships with family and friends both play prominent roles in this novel. While perhaps not the vaunted literary masterpiece that Ulysses is reputed to be, Portrait was infinitely more enjoyable.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Ulysses - Joyce
This novel has been, since I was in high school, the only book that I've picked up and not completed. I would hear about how Joyce is one of the greatest novelists of all time, and how Ulysses is his masterpiece, and pick it up again - to no avail. Well, I can say that no longer. I've plodded through this book much to my detriment, but I can now finally say that I've completed it.
So why didn't I like it?
Something about Ulysses just didn't draw me in. Maybe it's too intellectual? (A bit of self-deprecation never hurt anyone, especially when panning a novel with a rabid fanbase.) Honestly, I was just bored. My experience with Ulysses was similar to that of Wuthering Heights. I TRIED to like it, to appreciate it, to look for it's merit. I WANTED to like it. The snob in me wants to be able to talk about its finer points with my "literary" friends. But I just didn't like it. End of story.
I think the primary problem was that I didn't like Bloom. I realize this is blasphemy and am ready to take my lashes. I thought he was boring. I found that I didn't care what he was doing/thinking/feeling. His fantasies, his wife, the funeral... I didn't even get a Every Man feeling from him like I did from Babbit. I could step back and appreciate the literary structure, the storytelling diversity, the Irish focus. And I actually enjoyed reading about Stephen. But every Bloom page flip was painful to me, and I probably spent nearly as much time checking to see how much I had left as I did reading the novel.
I'm sure the Bloom fanatics out there will merely dismiss me as an uneducated buffoon, and I'll gladly listen to any arguments in Ulysses's favor, but for now, I'm just glad that I'm done.
So why didn't I like it?
Something about Ulysses just didn't draw me in. Maybe it's too intellectual? (A bit of self-deprecation never hurt anyone, especially when panning a novel with a rabid fanbase.) Honestly, I was just bored. My experience with Ulysses was similar to that of Wuthering Heights. I TRIED to like it, to appreciate it, to look for it's merit. I WANTED to like it. The snob in me wants to be able to talk about its finer points with my "literary" friends. But I just didn't like it. End of story.
I think the primary problem was that I didn't like Bloom. I realize this is blasphemy and am ready to take my lashes. I thought he was boring. I found that I didn't care what he was doing/thinking/feeling. His fantasies, his wife, the funeral... I didn't even get a Every Man feeling from him like I did from Babbit. I could step back and appreciate the literary structure, the storytelling diversity, the Irish focus. And I actually enjoyed reading about Stephen. But every Bloom page flip was painful to me, and I probably spent nearly as much time checking to see how much I had left as I did reading the novel.
I'm sure the Bloom fanatics out there will merely dismiss me as an uneducated buffoon, and I'll gladly listen to any arguments in Ulysses's favor, but for now, I'm just glad that I'm done.
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