5 ms·

I'd recommend John Huston's film 'The Dead' to anyone who would like experience something by Joyce. I did read a bit of 'A portrait of the artist as a young man

by barking 10y ago

I'd recommend John Huston's film 'The Dead' to anyone who would like experience something by Joyce. I did read a bit of 'A portrait of the artist as a young man'. He really got into the head of a small boy who was being bullied in one part. I never finished it though, I can't remember why. I don't think that I could ever read Ulysses, I did listen to a reading of it on the BBC's book at bedtime many years ago and liked parts of it. Finnegan's Wake would drive me insane, I'm certain.

MissLila 10y ago
Words of wisdom from @barking, watch "The Dead"!
- barking 10y ago
  Glad you found it amusing. Re: 'The Dead', I got a copy of it as a present last christmas after boring people for years about what a good film it is, though I hadn't seen it in years. AFAIK it was John Huston's last film and a labour of love (his daughter Angelica is in it). It's a bit dated now (made in the 80s) and low budget but it still holds up imo. The main character has some long thoughts to himself about life, death and how little we really know those closest to us, that are very moving imo.
bshimmin 10y ago
The Dead is a good film, undeniably, but its basis is the final short story of Dubliners, which is Joyce's most approachable work; everything afterwards was increasingly avant-garde, but Dubliners is at least written according to conventional rules of both English grammar and literature (though there's a lot going on behind the scenes). (I personally very much enjoyed Portrait... and Ulysses - the latter is very difficult in places, but on the whole an astonishing achievement. I'm saving Finnegans Wake for my retirement.)
- barking 10y ago
  If I try Ulysses again it will probably be an audiobook, I could never make any headway with it in text. I might try getting hold of Dubliners in book form.
  - sago 10y ago
    James Norton's audio book of Ulysses is superb, he really captures the beauty of the language. I'd recommend it more as an audiobook that written, at least at first, just as I'd recommend listening to Shakespeare rather than reading the text. genius.com has an annotated Ulysses, [0] and it might be even better to listen and read at the same time. [0]: http://genius.com/albums/James-joyce/Ulysses http://genius.com/albums/James-joyce/Ulysses
    - user51442 10y ago
      I assume you mean Jim Norton (and Marcella Riordan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-apGqB98RI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-apGqB98RI
      - sago 10y ago
        I did, yes, over-formality got the better of me.
twoodfin 10y ago
If you want to try tackling Ulysses again, I have two recommendations: First, Frank Delaney is doing a wonderful podcast, "Re: Joyce"[1], unpacking the novel in short segments. The original episodes cover just a few sentences each; lately the format has expanded to a whole page, in the hope that he'll finish before 2040! Currently, he's just started in on "Scylla and Charybdis", the ninth chapter. His enthusiasm for Joyce and Ulysses is deep and delightful. Second, in 1982, the Irish radio station RTE produced an essentially unabridged dramatic reading of the novel. Besides being a terrific way to experience the book, it nicely counters one of the major difficulties for newcomers to Ulysses: Distinguishing dialog and internal monologue from narration, and deciding who, exactly, is saying what! It's available for free on archive.org[2]. [1] http://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/ http://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/ [2] https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-Audiobook https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-Audiobook
- barking 10y ago
  That's an amazing resource. I remember frank delaney from bbc radio years ago, I had no idea he was still around, looks like he's moved to america and reinvented himself. Thanks for the info.
loudmax 10y ago
Joyce's Dubliners is a collection of short stories, one of which is 'The Dead'. It's quite accessible, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to read something by James Joyce. I also read 'A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man' and didn't think much of it. I made it through Ulysses, but frankly half the time I could barely understand WTF was going on. I started on Finnegan's Wake and gave up after realizing that the prose wasn't going to get any less crazy. Dubliners though is quite accessible and a very nice read.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by barking 10y ago

MissLila 10y ago

Words of wisdom from @barking, watch "The Dead"!

barking 10y ago
Glad you found it amusing. Re: 'The Dead', I got a copy of it as a present last christmas after boring people for years about what a good film it is, though I hadn't seen it in years. AFAIK it was John Huston's last film and a labour of love (his daughter Angelica is in it). It's a bit dated now (made in the 80s) and low budget but it still holds up imo. The main character has some long thoughts to himself about life, death and how little we really know those closest to us, that are very moving imo.

bshimmin 10y ago

The Dead is a good film, undeniably, but its basis is the final short story of Dubliners, which is Joyce's most approachable work; everything afterwards was increasingly avant-garde, but Dubliners is at least written according to conventional rules of both English grammar and literature (though there's a lot going on behind the scenes). (I personally very much enjoyed Portrait... and Ulysses - the latter is very difficult in places, but on the whole an astonishing achievement. I'm saving Finnegans Wake for my retirement.)

barking 10y ago
If I try Ulysses again it will probably be an audiobook, I could never make any headway with it in text. I might try getting hold of Dubliners in book form.
- sago 10y ago
  James Norton's audio book of Ulysses is superb, he really captures the beauty of the language. I'd recommend it more as an audiobook that written, at least at first, just as I'd recommend listening to Shakespeare rather than reading the text. genius.com has an annotated Ulysses, [0] and it might be even better to listen and read at the same time. [0]: http://genius.com/albums/James-joyce/Ulysses http://genius.com/albums/James-joyce/Ulysses
  - user51442 10y ago
    I assume you mean Jim Norton (and Marcella Riordan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-apGqB98RI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-apGqB98RI
    - sago 10y ago
      I did, yes, over-formality got the better of me.

twoodfin 10y ago

If you want to try tackling Ulysses again, I have two recommendations: First, Frank Delaney is doing a wonderful podcast, "Re: Joyce"[1], unpacking the novel in short segments. The original episodes cover just a few sentences each; lately the format has expanded to a whole page, in the hope that he'll finish before 2040! Currently, he's just started in on "Scylla and Charybdis", the ninth chapter. His enthusiasm for Joyce and Ulysses is deep and delightful. Second, in 1982, the Irish radio station RTE produced an essentially unabridged dramatic reading of the novel. Besides being a terrific way to experience the book, it nicely counters one of the major difficulties for newcomers to Ulysses: Distinguishing dialog and internal monologue from narration, and deciding who, exactly, is saying what! It's available for free on archive.org[2]. [1] http://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/ http://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/ [2] https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-Audiobook https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-Audiobook

barking 10y ago
That's an amazing resource. I remember frank delaney from bbc radio years ago, I had no idea he was still around, looks like he's moved to america and reinvented himself. Thanks for the info.

loudmax 10y ago

Joyce's Dubliners is a collection of short stories, one of which is 'The Dead'. It's quite accessible, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to read something by James Joyce. I also read 'A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man' and didn't think much of it. I made it through Ulysses, but frankly half the time I could barely understand WTF was going on. I started on Finnegan's Wake and gave up after realizing that the prose wasn't going to get any less crazy. Dubliners though is quite accessible and a very nice read.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]