Ulysses is an overwrought, overwritten epic of gratingly obvious, self-congratulatory, show-off erudition that, with its overstuffed symbolism and leaden attempts at humor, is bearable only by terminal graduate students who demand we validate the time they've wasted reading it.

Warm sunshine merrying over the sea. The nickel shavingbowl shone, forgotten, on the parapet. Why should I bring it down? Or leave it there all day, forgotten friendship?

He went over to it, held it in his hands awhile, feeling its coolness, smelling the clammy slaver of the lather in which the brush was stuck. So I carried the boat of incense then at Clongowes. I am another now and yet the same. A servant too. A server of a servant.

Heh. /inc shitstorm, right?

Does anyone else have trouble reading this or is it just me? Books like these just make me sleepy. It's almost like the ramblings of a schizophrenic.

In it's defense, though I haven't read it, people enjoyed literature in a different way than we do now in ye olde times.

"Advanced" writing is actually no more advanced linguistically than your average English speaker except for increased vocabulary, vague references, and intentional obfuscation. It is cool how Ulysses is totally littered with references, if I recall correctly.

Oh, I don't think that this is the mark of a good peice of literature. In fact, accessibility and wide ranging appeal (which is not the same thing as popularity) are, in my view, somewhat essential for a work to be considered "well written." James Joyce wrote what is little more than an "inside joke" for literature snobs.

Oh, I don't think that this is the mark of a good peice of literature. In fact, accessibility and wide ranging appeal (which is not the same thing as popularity) are, in my view, somewhat essential for a work to be considered "well written." James Joyce wrote what is little more than an "inside joke" for literature snobs.

My understanding of Ulysses is that it may be a painting of a cow taking a **** in outer space, but it's a really well-executed painting of a cow taking a **** in outer space.