学进去

The Hardest Novel I’ve Ever Read

For the last three months, I have glared at its fat heavy form on my floor with a vague sense of personal failure. I have opened Ulysses twice, determined to finish it, and managed to get all the way to page 46. I have read so little both times that I have never bothered using a bookmark.

1． I like the community this book has created, its inherent sense of freedom and celebration of all things rude and true. I like that the style and language allow for readers to choose how they read it — some recommend skipping chapter three, others suggest reading it only after reading ABOUT it but I still get stuck.

Why do I get stuck? 2． On the “Most Difficult Novels” list on the Goodreads website, Joyce takes the top two spots, with Ulysses ranking first and Finnegans Wake following it. I think what is restricting me to page 46 is the language: the big fat burst of Chaucerian English with slang and jaunty dialogue that, while entertaining me, is also leaving me a little lost.

There are a few other “worthy” works of literature I have yet to read, including Infinite Jest and War and Peace. 3． I really want to love Ulysses. I feel deeply frustrated that I can’t finish it, all the while appreciating its uniqueness, weightiness and special “Joyceness.”

The English writer Virginia Woolf thought Ulysses was nonsense as she complained in her diaries about the pressure to finish reading it. By contrast, Vladimir Nabokov, the author who wrote Lolita expressed deep love for it. 4． I have read it similar to a long marriage(something unpleasant, big reward at the end), modern Jazz-fusion (an innovative genre) and boxing match with oneself (wanting to punch yourself in the face), which is how I felt by page 46.

Some people love Ulysses, so where am I getting wrong? My ultimate hope is that the struggle will be worth the effort and I can proceed victorious onto page 800 or so, on my third fourth, eighteenth try. Something tells me I will get there in the end.