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In Your Face!
In each edition of The BookSense.com Newsletter (sign up here!), Len Vlahos, director of BookSense.com, holds forth about various topics...

Len Vlahos, director of BookSense.com, explains...

Why Ulysses Isn't as Good as You've Been Led to Believe
16 February, 2001

So I was skiing in Vermont this past weekend -- or rather, due to the 80 mph winds at the summit, not skiing -- and thought it a great time to finally tackle James Joyce's Ulysses. After all, it's near the top of every "greatest book of all time" list I've ever seen. What exactly had I been missing all these years?

I'd finally decided to take the Ulysses-plunge after a colleague, recalling what a college professor once told him, said, "Forget the literary allusions, skip over the French and Latin phrases if you have trouble deciphering them, and remember, this is one of the funniest books ever written."

Not being the sharpest tool in shed -- nor the dullest, I might add in my own defense -- I found this advice comforting. (Ulysses always sort of intimidated me.) I cracked open my fine-looking Vintage edition of the book and got ready to laugh.

Did I mention I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed? Because I'm still not laughing. Not without tremendous effort, anyway.

"-The islanders, Mulligan said to Haines casually, speak frequently of the collector of prepuces." Okay, that actually is a pretty funny description of God when taken in context (at least I think it's a description of God), but the effort one has to exert to appreciate Ulysses is Herculean. In fact, as I talk with colleagues, friends, and family members, it's becoming clear that no one has read this book without the aid of a college course on "Why Ulysses is Great." Ever. In fact, I'm not so sure Joyce himself didn't train legions of young Ulysses scholars to go spread his gospel from the Ring of Kerry to Tierra del Fuego.

I don't dispute the genius or comedy of Ulysses. But a book that is -- without substantial tutelage -- inaccessible to 95 percent of the English-speaking world is a book that might not belong on the "Greatest of All Time" list. I'm not suggesting that accessibility is the only criterion when judging books on their relative merits. I'm not even suggesting that it's a primary metric. But a book that must be explained by an academic in order to be appreciated, brilliant though it may be, might just be overrated. Of course, I also think The Godfather (film) and Pet Sounds (album) are overrated, so what the hell do I know? I would, however, like to know what the hell you think. Write to us at inyourface@booksense.com , and maybe we'll include your opinion in our next newsletter.

Note: In Your Face does not necessarily represent the views of BookSense.com’s staff, management, ownership, or its affiliated booksellers. (Heck, we’re not really sure it even represents Len’s views.)

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