Ulysses

James Joyce (1882–1941) was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939) as well as the short-story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Ulysses takes place in a single day 16 June 1904 also known as Bloomsday. It places the characters and incidents of Homer’s Odyssey in modern Dublin and represents Odysseus (Ulysses) Penelope and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom his wife Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus and contrasts them with their lofty models. As his characters stroll eat contemplate and argue through the streets of Dublin Joyce’s stream of consciousness narrative artfully weaves events emotions and memories in a free flow of imagery and associations. Full of literary allusions parody puns and uncensored vulgarity Ulysses has been considered controversial and challenging but always brilliant and rewarding.