Ulysses

by James Joyce, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

"I hold this book to be the most important expression which the present age has found; it is a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape." T.S. Eliot

Ulysses depicts a day in Leopold Bloom’s life, broken into episodes analogous to Homer’s Odyssey and related in rich, varied styles. Joyce’s novel is celebrated for its depth of learning, earthy humor, literary allusions and piercing insight into the human heart.

First published in Paris in 1922 Ulysses was not published in the United States until 1934. Immediately recognized as an extraordinary work that both echoed the history of English literature and took it in new, unheralded directions, Joyce’s book was controversial. Its widespread release was initially slowed by censors nitpicking a few passages. The novel is challenging, in that it is an uncommon reader who will perceive all that Joyce has put into his pages upon first reading, but it is uniquely rewarding for anyone willing to follow where the author leads. Far more than a learned exercise in literary skill, Ulysses displays a sense of humor that ranges from delicate to roguish as well as sequences of striking beauty and emotion. Chief among the latter must be the novel’s climactic stream of consciousness step into the mind of the protagonist’s wife, Molly Bloom, whose open-hearted acceptance of life and love is among the most memorable and moving passages in English literature.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Ulysses is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513220772
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Series:	Mint Editions (Literary Fiction)
Pages:	682
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish author of novels, short stories and poems. Raised in Dublin, he was an outstanding student who became one of the most influential and revered authors of his era. Moving about Europe pursuing work as a teacher while raising a family did not deter him from producing groundbreaking works of fiction like the short story collection Dubliners and the celebrated novel Ulysses. Seen as one of the most important representatives of literary modernism, Joyce’s landmark work will never cease to fascinate, trouble and reward readers willing to enter his world.

Date of Birth:

February 2, 1882

Date of Death:

January 13, 1941

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Place of Death:

Zurich, Switzerland

Education:

B.A., University College, Dublin, 1902

Website:

http://www.jamesjoyce.ie

Read an Excerpt

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned:

—Introibo ad altare Dei.

Halted, he peered down the dark winding stairs and called up coarsely:

—Come up, Kinch. Come up, you fearful jesuit.

Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains. Then, catching sight of Stephen Dedalus, he bent towards him and made rapid crosses in the air, gurgling in his throat and shaking his head. Stephen Dedalus, displeased and sleepy, leaned his arms on the top of the staircase and looked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that blessed him, equine in its length, and at the light untonsured hair, grained and hued like pale oak.

Buck Milligan peeped an instant under the mirror and then covered the bowl smartly.

—Back to barracks, he said sternly.

He added in a preacher's tone:

—For this, O dearly beloved, is the genuine Christine: body and soul and blood and ouns. Slow music, please. Shut your eyes, gents. One moment. A little trouble about those white corpuscles. Silence, all. 

He peered sideways up and gave a long low whistle of call, then paused awhile in rapt attention, his even white teeth glistening here and there with gold points. Chrysostomos. Two strong shrill whistles answered through the calm. 

—Thanks, old chap, he cried briskly. That will do nicely. Switch off the current, will you?

He skipped off the gunrest and looked gravely at his watcher, gathering about his legs the loose folds of his gown. The plump shadowed face and sullen oval jowl recalled a prelate, patron of arts in the middle ages. A pleasant smile broke quietly over his lips.

—The mockery of it, he said gaily. Your absurd name, an ancient Greek.

Table of Contents

Map: Dublin c. 1904
Abbreviations
Introduction
Composition and Publication History
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of James Joyce
ULYSSES
Appendix A: The Gilbert and Linati Schemata
Appendix B: Ulysses: Serialization and Editions
Appendix C: Errata
Explanatory Notes

What People are Saying About This

Edmund Wilson

One of the most remarkable features of Ulysses is its interest as an investigation into the nature of human consciousness and behavior...Joyce has studied what we are accustomed to consider the dirty, the trivial and the base elements in our lives with the restlessness of a modern psychologist; and he has also...done justice to all those elements in our lives which we have been in the habit of describing by such names as love, nobility, truth and beauty.

From the Publisher

"Ulysses will immortalize its author with the same certainty that Gargantua immortalized Rabelais, and The Brothers Karamazov immortalized Dostoyevsky.... It comes nearer to being the perfect revelation of a personality than any book in existence."
-The New York Times

"To my mind one of the most significant and beautiful books of our time."
-Gilbert Seldes, in The Nation

"Talk about understanding "feminine psychology"— I have never read anything to surpass it, and I doubt if I have ever read anything to equal it."
-Arnold Bennett

"In the last pages of the book, Joyce soars to such rhapsodies of beauty as have probably never been equaled in English prose fiction."
-Edmund Wilson, in The New Republic

Introduction

The 100 Best English Language Novels of the Century

"We tried to pick books that were of great merit and proven over time." -- Christopher Cerf, chairman of the Modern Library Editorial Board

On Monday, July 20th, the editorial board of the Modern Library released a list of the 100 best English-language novels of the century. Topping the list was Ulysses, the unique, original novel that recounts a day in the lives of a group of Dubliners. The same book that was banned in the United States from 1920 to 1933 for obscenity now tops the list of novels written in English in this century, followed in descending order by The Great Gatsby, A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man, Lolita, and Brave New World.

The editorial board that created this list comprised Christopher Cerf, Gore Vidal, Daniel J. Boorstin, Shelby Foote, Vartan Gregorian, A. S. Byatt, Edmund Morris, John Richardson, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and William Styron. The top five novels originally tied for first place, all selected by nine out of ten editorial board members. Then, in another vote, the board members listed the books in order, resulting in the conclusive top five.

All the judges agreed that Ulysses was deserving of the rank of top book of the century. James Joyce was a brilliant author who, many think, ignited modern literature much as Picasso ignited 20th-century art. Joyce spent seven years working on this novel, as evidenced in his masterful prose. But is it the best English-language novel of the 20th century? Why are there only eight women on the list of 100? Is Catcher In the Rye really the 64th best novel of our century?

Editorial Reviews

Ulysses is the most important contribution that has been made to fictional literature in the twentieth century. . . It is likely that there is no one writing English today that could parallel Mr. Joyce's feat, and it is also likely that few would care to do it were it capable. -- Books of the Century; New York Times review, May 1922

New York Times Book Review

"This edition, complete with an invaluable Introduction, map of Dublin, notes, and appendices, republishes for the first time, without interference, the original 1922 text."—In Dublin

"After more than seventy years of editorial corrections, specialists will buy the 'uncorrected' edition for its accuracy. Others should choose it as much for Johnson's excellent introduction and notes."—Tim Kendall, Notes and Queries

From the Publisher

ULYSSES, considered by many to be the preeminent novel of the modern era, has been recorded for audio before. But this new version, featuring narrator John Lee, has much to recommend it. Even though he’s English, Lee can summon up a convincing Irish accent, and his petulant reading gives the book a great deal of vigor. His pace is ideal, neither too fast to follow the complex novel nor too slow to be wearying. However, one problem plagues this reading: The monologue of Molly Bloom, which is the final chapter of the book, is read by Lee himself, rather than by a woman (as is the case in one other version). While Lee is certainly convincing, the lack of a female voice at the conclusion of this audiobook leaves this listener disappointed. K.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2010 - AudioFile