Why Read Ulysses?
Event Details
First published on 2 February 1922 – James Joyce’s 40th birthday – UIysses was immediately controversial, described by one Irish critic as ‘the most infamously obscene book in ancient or modern literature’. This huge and for some readers intimidating text has topped lists of the greatest books of all time since its first publication. It has also developed a reputation as one of literature’s most lauded but least read books, often cited by writers and celebrities in answer to the question ‘what book are you most ashamed (or sorry) not to have read?’
More than a century on, is Ulysses still worth reading? Will it repay the effort required to get through such a massive tome? In this one-off lecture (with plenty of opportunity for questions from and discussion with the audience), London Literary Salon founder Toby Brothers – who in January will lead what is probably (she has lost count) her 25th group of readers through this extraordinary novel – will explain why she believes the answer remains emphatically ‘Yes (yes, yes)!’
And here is a comment from one current participant in our Ulysses ‘Slow Read’ study:
“I am thoroughly enjoying this journey. I feel wide open, exposed and receptive to new ways of thinking. What could be better than that? I enjoy the links with the classics and their current counterparts such as the agony of Sisyphus and the trials of thoughtful, surely sad, Martin Cunningham. And then Bloom with his many pockets reminded me in an amusing way of the Artful Dodger.
The classes I have taken with the Literary Salon have been extraordinary.”
JOINING DETAILS:
- One-off lecture and discussion on Zoom led by Toby Brothers
- 6.30-7.30 pm, Tuesday 26 November 2024
- £15.00 (redeemable against the cost of either of our Ulysses studies starting in January 2025 if you decide to join one of two options: early or later)
