Ulises

Palabra en el tiempo Nos. 112-113

by Richard Ellmann

Hardcover, 1040 pages

Spanish language

Published April 5, 1980 by Lumen.

ISBN:: 978-84-264-1996-5
OCLC Number:: 1026034232

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(40 reviews)

2 volúmenes. Traducción y prólogo de José María Valverde.

168 editions

brenticus reviewed Ulysses by James Joyce by Richard Ellmann

None

3 stars

I feel ill equipped to enjoy this book. Not that I don't understand what happened, or that it's something I dont think is my thing, or that it's too difficult for me to follow. No, there are just clearly layers and layers of stuff to sift through that I don't have the time or patience to sort out.

Like, this doesn't just talk about Irish home rule, it talks about the detailed specifics of Irish politicians in Joyce's time. I can get that, but the amount of research I need to do to actually understand what's being communicated in some sections is a lot.

I can see why there are whole courses dedicated to this book in some English programs. Holy hell.

Anyways, the prose is phenomenal, just flows directly into the brain making the whole thing feel like a fever dream, which it sometimes basically is, and I would …

Laura Lemay reviewed Ulysses by James Joyce by Richard Ellmann

Review of 'Ulysses by James Joyce' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was finally going to be the year I read Ulysses, and for my first time through I decided I was going to just dive in and read it all on my own, without notes or any preparation, and only a vague memory of the larger plot points of the original Homer epic. I did not expect it to take me four months to do it.

I have no fear of big, difficult books — I breezed right through 2666 and Infinite Jest and the complete works of Mark Danielewski — so I thought “just how hard could it be?” The answer is very hard. To understand and experience Ulysses I had to give it my full attention and read it far more closely than I’m used to reading. And both those things are difficult to me to do at the end of the day in bed when I normally read. If I had a glass or wine or two for dinner, forget it, I did not have nearly the focus I needed for this book and I had to put it aside and read other things.

That said I am completely captivated by this book, I don’t regret having spent the time, and I already have plans to re-read it later with better preparation. The writing is loose and impressionistic and there were times when I had feelings and sensations in my head from reading it and I had no idea how they got there. Joyce’s skill with writing is on a level I did not even realize existed, and I have not the faintest clue of how he did it. In that respect, I loved it, just loved it.

Four stars instead of five mostly as a reflection of my own inadequacies in understanding this book. Will re-evaluate on the next reading.

jami reviewed Ulysses by James Joyce by Richard Ellmann

Review of 'Ulysses by James Joyce' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

maybe not all lit-ruhchuh is supposed to be enjoyable to read. ulysses succeeds in being not-enjoyable with flying colors. i read about that dude and his shaving mirror probably twenty goddamn times before i finally stopped trying to read this thing.

if you want to give it a try, it's free online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4300

and i still have a nice-looking copy glowering up at me on my real bookshelf, lest i get feeling masochistic again.