Joyce, James - Ulysses (9)

Joyce - Ulysses

Ulysses is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature, even if it’s very difficult to read because had many pages, nothing happens, the protagonist is horrid and it told only one day: 16 June 1904, called Bloomsday because Joyce talked about the activity that Leopold Bloom did in that day.
There are 3 main characters: Leopold Bloom, Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of the story, is accurately described.
Leopold is Jew: this is a protest agains Irish Literary Revival.

Furthermore Joyce no took inspiration from Celtic mitology, but from Greek mitology; in fact Ulysses can be considered a European book.
Everything is symbolic: Mr Bloom after breakfast walks aroung Dublin and at midnight he decides to go home to his wife. There a connection with Ulysses, who was returned from a long trip to see his wife. Furthermore Bloom has many problems during his day, as Ulysses so he can be considered a modern Ulysses.

The book presents 18 chapters, withouth titles and numbers. The readers are in fact in a sort of labyrinth, so Joyce did a secrets map called Linati schema for a friend where he divides the chapters in three sections:
• Telemachia, which is about Stephen;
• Odyssey, which is about Mr Bloom’s travell;
• Nostos, which is about Mr Bloom, who’s returing home.
Each chapter was written in a different style of English, except from the first and the last chapters that present the same style; so the book is carrefully organized. Style reflects the content in fact for example in chapter 7 Mr Bloom is in a newspaper office, in fact each paragraph has a headline as if it was a newspaper article; in chapter 7 Mr Bloom is in a maternity hospital, so the chapter is organized in 9 sections as if they are the 9 months of gestation. There’s also a gestation of the style in this chapter; in chapter 15 Mr Bloom is in a traumatic Brothel, so Joyce writes in the form of a play.
Instead in the last chapter Mister Bloom is in bed, while he’s thinking, so Joyce decides to put his thoughts on the page withouth punctuation because thoughts don’t present punctuation.
In Dubliners Joyce presented Dublin’s negative side, instead in Ulysses he presented Dublin’s positive side. In fact the work ends with many Yes (the most positive word).