I ORDERED THIS BOOK at the same time as Introducing Joyce, but, by some error, was sent a Christian self-help book instead. When I get a chance, I will pass the book on to a Christian in need of self-help, but, failing that, I may burn it.The bookstore that made the error corrected it as soon as I alerted them, so the correct book arrived a few days ago. It is written by Frank Startup, and is written a bit more simply than the previous one; the text sounds intended for a ninth grade audience, and it never gets too flowery or uses words that are too unexpected. It details Joyce's biography a lot less, and doesn't even bother with his minor books, or even with Finnegan's Wake. Instead, the book looks at Dubliners, Portrait of an Artist, and Ulysses.
The book's middle school writing style aside, it's really a very good, and encouraging, introduction to these books. Startup lays out the major themes of the books, explains a little about how they were written, provides a concise summary, but doesn't go so far as to interpret the books for you. Instead, the author gives a sense of just how flexible Joyce's writing is when you sit down to interpret it, and Startup makes an intriguing case that new forms of literary criticism had to be developed to address Joyce. He gives a clear sense of the outrage and bewilderment that rose up every time Joyce published, and delineates the slow trickle of critical work that supported Joyce, attempting to translate his books in such a way that they didn't seem so daunting, or unintelligible, or pornographic. Startup insists that Joyce is nothing to be afraid of, as did the previous book, but Startup's protestations sound credible, rather than overprostested; this is especially true when he summarizes Ulysses and says things like, oh, here is a tricky bit, and you might get discouraged, but, trust me, some of this will make sense later, and there's a joke being set up here, and this actually does make sense if you just take a moment to dig in. It actually makes the whole prospect of reading Joyce exciting, like starting a treasure hunt.
Startup is abundantly clear, however, that skimming will not work with Joyce. The author requires careful reading, and, as a result, it becomes almost impossible to read him straight through, especially in Ulysses, where themes and word-choices double back on themselves, and readers will want to flip back and forth, rereading sections to uncover the thematic and dramatic links between sections.
I have already found this to be true in reading Joyce's first collection of poetry, Chamber Music, which is considered to be such a minor work as to hardly be worth mentioning. I will detail my experiences of reading it in my next post, but even in this, Joyce's earliest published work, there is a hidden structure and a demand for close reading, and there is the sense of a puzzle. You ponder an unusual word choice, and look it up, and suddenly the poem cracks open. And Startup is right: It's a rather enjoyable experience.
More Plastic Paddy
Bill Lindeke Said,
Taking a Ulysses class in college was one of the best decisions I made during those years. it's the kind of book where you really need someone (or some intro book) to explain to you the context, structure, and odd methods of the writing. But once get all that down, kind of like a secret decoder ring, the book becomes a magnificent, all-encompassing story of extraordinary everyday life in Dublin. Joyce's ear for language and music is so keen, and the joy he takes in using the english language is so palpable... After reading it then, and again more recently, I actually feel like I've lived there one hundred years ago.
Posted on October 19, 2009 6:26 PM