Joyce's Ulysses: A Reader's Guide

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Ulysses remains less widely read than most texts boasting such a canonical status, largely due to misunderstanding about how to read it, and this guide provides an easy to follow remedy. By showing how Joyce reacted to the historical and cultural context in which he was situated, the radical nature of his use of language is laid bare in a chapter-by-chapter analysis of Ulysses. This approach enables the student reader to read and enjoy the novel's plurality of styles and to understand the terms of critical debate surrounding the nature and significance of Joyce's novel.

Reviews

In the canon of twentieth-century literature, Joyce's work is unignorable, but daunting to many. This fresh, lively, lucid introduction to Ulysses is admirably aware of the critical literature, particularly recent postcolonial and historical approaches, and is equipped with a helpful apparatus for beginners.' - Andrew Gibson, Research Professor of Modern Literature and Theory, Royal Holloway, University of London, and former Segal Professor of Irish Literature at Northwestern University, USA
"Sheehan continues his guides to anglophone literature by parsing the novel considered by many to be one of the more difficult canonical works by Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941). He places the writing of it within the political and social context of the time, showing how distinct passages, with their plurality of voices, reflect particular events in the non-fiction world. He covers contexts; language, style, and form; reading Ulysses; critical reception and publishing history; and adaptation, interpretation, and influence." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.
Sean Sheehan's clearly written Joyce's 'Ulysses' adopts a sensible approach: he provides some biographical details about Joyce, before devoting the main body of the book to a chapter-by-chapter examination of the plot and stylistic aspects of Ulysses. -- Forum for Modern Language Studies Vol. 47, No. 3

Author Bio

Sean Sheehan is an independent scholar, having previously taught in the UK and abroad. His publications include The British Museum Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Greece (2002), Socrates: Life and Times (2007), iek: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2012) and Sophocles Oedipus the King: A Readers Guide (Bloomsbury, 2012).