“…and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.” James Joyce, Ulysses
My friend Davyne Verstandig, head of the Litchfield County Writers Project, recently asked me if I would like to attend a lecture about James Joyce, given by author Frank Delaney.
James Joyce? Frank Delaney? Yes I said yes I will Yes.
I met Frank Delaney at a book signing last summer and have been an admirer of his work, so I was thrilled at the opportunity to hear him speak about Joyce.
In his book, James Joyce’s Odyssey, Frank Delaney describes Ulysses as, “an entertaining, funny, absorbing, exciting, enjoyable novel, a book to get lost in, a book to take to a desert island, a book to keep by your bedside, and discover each day something new, a book to be quoted from, recalled, discussed, contemplated, bequeathed, bestowed, but above all to be relished, savoured, a work of intelligence and delight.’
Author Frank Delaney (photo by Jerry Bauer)
I have found Ulysses to be a puzzling, challenging, difficult and maddening novel, a book to not only get lost in, but to lose one’s mind in, a book to take to a desert island and leave there, motoring off with something lighter, like Paradise Lost, a book to keep, not by my bedside, but prominently displayed on a coffee table, to impress others. I know Frank must be right when he says it is a work of intelligence and delight, I’m just not intelligent enough to feel all the delight. But I want to be – wicked bad.
The thing is, I have read and reread Joyce’s Dubliners many times because I love the stories so, and have always wanted to appreciate Ulysses, so I decided to attend Frank Delaney’s talk last night, and I don’t recall when I’ve had a more enjoyable and enlightening evening. Frank was once a television and radio personality in Ireland and the UK, so he has a wonderful stage presence and his knowledge of Joyce is seemingly fathomless.
Ireland, death, sex, alcoholism, writing, self-loathing, romantic love, begrudgery – all things Irish – all my favorite things – were touched upon in Frank’s delightful discourse last night. One of the many tidbits I took away with me is Frank’s theory that one of the reasons Ireland has produced so many great writers, is because the language they write in, English, was forced upon them by their enemies – the English. Their inventive and provocative use of the English language is a sort of rebellious and retaliatory one-upmanship.
Having spent a little time in Ireland, I have seen what the people can do to the English language, just in conversation, and it’s impressive, to say the least. Ireland is the only place I have heard old men (or any men) use the C word as a vowel in regular conversation. ”I looked up and there she was, herself, the c*%#ing cow, standing like a fecking statue in the rain, in the fecking rain, in the middle of the fecking road.”
Last night’s lecture was the first in a series of talks given by Mr. Delaney. If you live anywhere near Litchfield County, Connecticut, I urge you to try to attend the others. The schedule is here. The series will also be available at the LCWP website, along with many other talks, readings and interviews with authors.
In addition to reading Mr Delaney’s book, there are several other excellent tools for gaining better understanding of Ulysses, arguably the greatest novel ever written in English.
The Linati (sp.?) Schema is the best known “guide.” It decodes some of the classical references and shows the parallels with the Odyssey, scene by scene. There are other guides that do the same thing. Re-reading Homer is also a big help, and can even be read in tandem with Ulysses for real literary fun! Familiarity with 17th, 18th, and 19th century English literature is also helpful, in order to appreciate the passages in which he parodies many writers!!
I’ve mentioned here that the film version is also hilarious and worth checking out. Milo O’Shea plays Bloom wonderfully.
Ann – I continue to learn so much through your postings. Such insight you give to Joyce and Delaney – I am eager to go check out the library for a book from each. What would recommend as a first read from each?
A C*%#ting cow? Not that’s a new one for me!! Don’t think I’ll be using that one – for sure!
But I may use the fecking word! Too funny….
Have a great day!
Hi Uncle Sull, thanks for that. Will have to check out the film. We met Mr. O’Shea years ago, so great.
This is a fun post because it is just about time to put together this season’s reading list. I love doing things with a theme. James Joyce sounds like a good one. And everything to do with Joyce. We were just talking about Huston’s ‘The Dead’ at dinner. Isn’t that the last book in the Dubliners? I’m not much into book to movie remakes, but that I enjoyed. Thank you Uncle Sull for some ‘everything to do with’ suggestions. I am foreseeing lots of reading time because I am putting on my pointy cowboy boots and commencing with the ‘gentle prodding’ for those college applications to go out Early Action.
I see Mr. Delaney is covering Yeats on Oct 30th. I wish I could attend, but, alas, I’m on the wrong coast.
Uncle Sull, thanks for the tips. I have tried to trudge through Ulysses several times, but my approach has been all wrong. Clearly proper preparation is required! It needs true devotion, patience and extra reading materials! I’m determined to read it in 2010, so I’m making a note on my New Year’s Resolutions draft. And Uncle Sull, sometime I would love it if you would share with us your history. You’re very interesting.
Since I can’t make it to the Yeats night, I’ll just throw one of my favorite of his poems down below. (“But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face…” sigh…)
When You Are Old
William Butler Yeats (1893)
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Kristin, since you mentioned reading lists, I thought I’d tell you all of a new feature which should appear on this blog by Monday (I hope). It’s going to be called “On the Nightstand” and it will feature a book I’ve just read or am reading and I thought maybe I will post one a month and if you all want to read it, we will pick a day at the end of the month to discuss. Isn’t that a novel idea? Have you ever heard of anything so unique and unusual? It would be like a club. A club that reads books. A book club, if you will.
I know, leave it to me to come up with something clever like that. A club whose members read books.
The first book is not nearly as long as Ulysses, promise.
Oh my, that opening line is steamy! I’m fanning myself.
Here you all go again, discussing books that are way over my head. Ulysses????? ack!
Catherine, liked the poem. The poetry brakes weren’t even activated.
Ann, very funny about the book club, but I’m afraid, very afraid. After hearing about all the books you read, I’m not sure I can participate. While it would be wonderful to be exposed to different kinds of books, frankly I just don’t feel smart enough. And then I’m going to feel left out. And you all know how I feel about being left out. I will try my best, but please don’t make the books too hard.
Ann, Isn’t every evening with us enjoyable an enlighting? Uncle Sull could you do me a favor and post the cliff/spark notes for all the stuff you posted/
Those in the know have told me that Joyce’s Ulysses is practically impenetrable to mere mortals, so kudos to you, Ann, for even attempting to wade through it.
One of my favorite anecdotes in the realm of verbal “smartassery” involves James Joyce. The story goes that an enthusiastic admirer approached the author and asked, “May I kiss the hand that wrote Ulysses?” Joyce is alleged to have responded, “No. It did lots of other things too.”
And thanks, Ann, for posting a link to the schedule for the Delaney Lectures. The talk on November 6th about Samuel Beckett caught my attention, so if my schedule permits, I hope to be there for that one.
A book club. Interesting. Your description sounded really fun, but I had to Google it to make sure I knew what it was. (I have a history of not knowing some of the new “urban lingo.”) Sounds innocent enough. I’m in.
I just re-read Uncle Sull’s post and was chuckling at the part about “re-reading Homer.” That would imply one ever got through The Odyssey or The Iliad the first time. I may have bitten off more than I can chew by adding Ulysses to my 2010 New Year’s Resolutions. I think I was trying to impress Uncle Sull. Must. Get. Out. Of. It.
The Dubliners was a piece of cake for me and Ulysses indigestable from page 1. But I’ll bet Frank Delaney could read an eye chart and keep you spellbound…
http://blog.frankdelaney.com/frank_delaney/media-clips/
I would really like to try and give it a whirl. I LOVE to read but I find that I allow time to slip away and don’t get the opportunity. I’m a little like Tracy too – oh, I’ll read it but I’m afraid I won’t see what everyone else might. Bless you Tracy for being so honest.
Hey Tracy – How about “The Cat in the Hat” for us???
I am with Tracy as I have never delved into reading the “Classics”, unless they were the Classic comics from 50 years ago (I am 57). Which now, I think you could find them in places like Ebay. In reality – I love books that have animals written through them, biographies, true crime, early Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell.
Sorry Ann, I couldn’t help it
But – I am totally ready to give it a real chance. Kind of like being in school again with Professor A. Leary..what fun!
Tracy,
Like Kim said, bless you for your honesty. You are so much smarter than you give yourself credit for. And your perspective on things is always so great. I would love to be in a book club with you any day! (You too Kim. And everyone on this site!) Itching to know what the first book is!
Catherine
Wow! Uncle Sull, you brought back some funny and traumatic memories for me. I remember trudging through Ulysses as an undergrad, tearing out my hair out trying to make sense of it and all the 17th, 18th, and 19th century English literature references our professor assumed we knew. Clueless, I went to the library and found the movie (the one with Milo O’Shea). I didn’t have a TV or VCR in my dorm, so I watched it in the library. I’m not sure why, probably nervous anxiety over my stupidity, but I started laughing at one part in the film. A very cute and disheveled looking graduate student came over to where I was and started watching the movie over my shoulder. We started talking and I quickly learned he was studying Irish Literature. “Great,” I said, putting on my best flirt (a HUGE stretch for me, but Ulysses and my sanity were at stake). “What can you teach me about this tome?” I said, batting my eye lashes.
The first thing he gave me was “The Linati Schema .” The first thing I gave him was a look of “Huh?” Needless to say, things didn’t work out on either front—Ulysses or the grad student. But I did develop a fondness for Beckett. So, Alan, I may see you at that lecture.
Hey Parisbreakfasts, I just checked out your website. Very cool! We sure have a lot of talented and creative people on this blog! Ann, you’re the Pied Piper of cool people. I love this blog!
Hi Ann,
I LOVE the idea of the “Ann Leary On the Nightstand Book Club”—and I think you would be a fantastic teacher/moderator! Tracy, I read “The Dubliners” during a college class taught by a fantastic prof. A different fantastic prof taught a class where we covered PART of Paradise Lost, which would have been completely and utterly incomphrensible to me without a great interpreter!(It all depends on the leader, and I think Ann would be wonderful!)
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to join a few different book clubs. As I was raising two little girls, working (sometimes) and taking college classes, it never worked out for me. HOWEVER, hearing about SOME of the different clubs and their very different ideas about a what a book club should be—everything from drunken debauchery to having to (almost!) present a dissertation which fellow book lovers (?!) cruelly decimate made them a source of sociological (well, no—make that GOSSIPY)fascination for me! (By the way, the most outrageous one I ever heard of—from a good friend who was invited because she “qualified”—was restricted to women who owned two homes!!!!). It made me want to write a book called “The White Trash Book Club” or something equally outrageous.
So, dear Ann (or should I say the female Dr. Leary?), I am so excited to finally be part of a book club. In spite of my rant, I’ve always thought they could be fun and fascinating!
Your resident philistine,
Lynne
Cyber book club. I love the idea. Am reading A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher now. Book is about push west and a group of people/horses involved. Thing I love most is the cover photo is by Viggo Mortensen and Ms. Fisher raises Nez Perce and Akhal Teke sport horses on Lopez Island in Washington. My husband gave me the book for these two reasons. So sweet, but pretty funny.
Kristin……….just his name………Viggo……….sets the hot flashes aflutter. He is “very” into his horses.
I’ve got to give myself some sort of credit…..last summer I read the Edgar Sawtelle book and could not put it down. I need to get on a regular roll with reading – maybe this is a good time to start……no excuses. (Ann, I know you read it).
Kristin, I loved A Sudden Country. Didn’t know that about cover photo – or maybe I had a different edition. I read it a few years ago.
Oh good about this book. For some reason I always get to books after the party’s all over. I just finished Edgar Sawtelle. Sigh….. The wonderful thing about your books, is that I got to actually be at the party and read them.
Good idea, Ann, to start a book club. I have alot of books on my nightstand but I’ll be happy to add another. Count me in!
I’d have to dig through some dusty files to come up with some of these sources, but a search on amazon would suggest some of the standard critical works. Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can come up with.
Great story, Colleen! Plenty of laughs in the film!
Wow, Ann, it must have been cool to meet him. Great actor…
Although there were wonderful, brilliant faculty at City College (CCNY), I must admit to being a rather poor student as an English major there in the 70s! Two professors led me through Ulysses. One employed the Homer/Joyce approach, focusing quite a bit on structure. After one reading, I was pretty clueless. The other was a seminar on Ulysses. That allowed a lot more time to enjoy the language and comedy, and sort out the references to music, art, literature, Irish politics, etc. My final paper was on verbal leitmotifs that run throughout (metempsychosis/ met him pike hoses; post no bills/post 110 pills, for example).
It is a very, very funny book, loaded with absolutely filthy jokes, satire, social commentary and, of course, beautiful language. What Joycean doesn’t see crustcrumbs whenever they eat a piece of toast?!
While it is a book best appreciated by folks with a great breadth of literary and historical knowledge, it can still be great fun for those of us who love all things Irish. I pick it up every so many years when something sparks a reference or memory. My paperback copy, purchased around 1975, has a taped-up spine and raggedy covers, but also lots of handwritten notes in the margins that help to sort things out!
On the other hand, I pick up Dubliners at least a few times each year. Around Christmas, it’s always fun to have one too many glasses of wine, read the Dead, and then get all weepy (or weepier than usual)!
Oh yeah, Tracy—-you HAVE TO JOIN (well, you don’t HAVE to, of course!!)—but I can’t imagine this wonderful blog without YOU!!!!
Think about it, okay?
Lynne
A book club is a great idea! I just finished reading 8 books for
my current class, and lots of books piling up on
desk to read during leisure time (what is that?). I enjoy the different perspectives people have after reading a book- we can all learn from one another!
Tracy, I am with you, feel very out of my league with all this high brow literature being tossed about. But count me in for the book club anyway, some of us will just sit over here at the kid’s table and try to keep up. (Ann can come over and hold our hand from time to time, and wipe the juice off of our chins.)
Off topic, but something I heard about last night and HAD to share. Someone, a few posts back, asked about any good ghost stories (as we are approaching the haunting season and all), and I found one. In a town called Weston, in West Virginia, there are two spots of interest. One is a train tunnel that looks SO much like the place where Ann takes the horses (and where Devin took those spooky pictures). It was built about the same time as Ann’s, but it seems maybe more haunted. Several verified stories of deaths, ghost trains, voices, creepy fogs and mists, as well as apparitions. In addition, there is a cemetary on top of it. The other place is a lunatic asylum! I know! And there is a child’s ghost there, stuck because she was born in the place and can’t seem to get out.
Just my two cents once more, but info that might be worth the google time.
“Ann can come over and hold our hand from time to time, and wipe the juice off of our chins.” – Julie in Eugene, you crack me up! And lol@sitting at the kids table. Will you save me a spot?
I’m glad you mentioned ghost stories. I LOVE Halloween. I hope I can find something good and scary to post. I’m a wimp though, so it won’t be *that* scary.
count me in for the kids’ table, too! if there are enough of us sitting there, maybe the book selection will be, um, a little less ‘ambitious.”
and uncle sull, weepy? i didn’t picture you as the type…. i like it, though!!
Uncle Sull,
You convinced me to give Ulysses another read. Winter is quickly approaching, and I’ll be in need of an involved project while I hibernate. Ferreting out the various references might do the trick.
By the way, when my dad was still alive, he too would read Dubliners around Christmas each year. Only his “one too many” drink of choice was Guinness, leaving him weepy and me hysterical with laughter. He was a funny drunk when he became nostalgic for Ireland.
Awww, Colleen, your description of your dad is so sweet.
Hi Everyone…..I’ve had a busy few days, haven’t had the time to reply as I’d like. To the new people here because of the NYT article–we are a family here, you are much like the new in-law who has just married into this fantastic family–so behave and we’ll learn to love you too.
And count me in for the book club; much like my dear friend Tracy, I’m not big into a lot of the classics, but I do love to compare notes and ideas, therefore I’ll read whatever the group is reading.
Barbara
Well, Lisa, the last couple of paragraphs are so evocative, so laden with powerful emotions, and so lyrically beautiful, that I’d be surprised if there were anyone who didn’t weep when reading them. Or, maybe it’s just Colleen’s dad and me!! I also go to pieces when I read Lord Byron’s poem about his Newfoundland dog, Boatswain!
Colleen, that sounds like a great idea! It’s definitely a project, but well worth it.
I am so glad to have read The New York Times article “A Refuge Ruled by Dogs and Horses”. I found your blog. Brilliant, I am enjoying getting to know you. I love Frank Delaney, he is full of joy and laughter. You have been added to my daily blog read. Nice to meet you through your blog. The love of animals shines.
lolololol Sandy, rotflmao!!!!!!!!! The Cat in the Hat!!!!!!! Yes, that would be a good start. hehehe I love you girl. Me too on Patricia Cromwell!
Thanks Kim, Catherine, & everyone else, I was a little nervous admitting that, but you know me, honest to a fault.
Of course I’ll join, and I will proudly sit at the kids table. I just have to have a green place mat and green cup, ok? If mot, I may throw a tantrum. hehehe
So……is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie on the nightstand? I saw the movie many years ago more than once and loved it. Is it an official nightstand book?
Kim, yes, I explained in the Baskets of Rubies comments that we’ll choose a date, in a month or so, when we’ll begin the discussion. Not a live chat, just an all day sort of think where you can add comments whenever you want.
I’m getting ris of the comments section under the book. Too many places for comments. We’ll just comment under that day’s blog.
Got it!!!! Thanks Ann