Stephen Fry on Ulysses - James Joyce
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Published 2011-07-03
“I’ll tell you the book I have chosen as my favorite book. And it may make some people’s heart sink, because it is associated with difficulty, where in fact it should be associated with joy…”
[ Stephen Fry, 53, polymath, trader in words, entertainer, national embarrassment, London & Hollywood. ]
All Comments (21)
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As a Dubliner preparing to read Ulysses, I did, I confess, read the book Dubliners along with the cliff notes, and watched The Dead directed by John Huston, it was worth the trouble. I also went to all the pubs mentioned in the book and got absolutely hammered and that was worth the trouble too.
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I found that Ulysses scans better if it is recited out loud, like a poem.
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Fry hits the nail on the head here. A great introduction, for its brevity, that I imagine would make any reader desire to, as he says, return to it again and again and again.
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It's hard to convey to someone who, for whatever reason of his/her own, is not familiar with this marvelous novel. I have spent my entire adult life with it. Feasting on it, grazing on it, loving it.
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Ulysses is hilarious; that is what tends to be forgotten.
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I read Ulysses in Polish and due to good translation I was stunned by the mastery of... well any aspect of writing I can think about. Joyce possessed unique talent which allowed him to change the style of storytelling, depending on what he needed to express and keep that formally complex book consistent. What I feel is the most outstanding about this book though is that it had all the potential to become a lame academy-oriented piece, instead it's actually the funniest novel ever written.
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I tried it in English... and I failed miserably back then. That was many decades ago and I was still a child, at least mentally. I should pick it up, again. The book is certainly true... but I am not sure how much of a joy it is to read unless English is truly your first language and your profession, which, of course, it is for Stephen Fry.
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"I doubt that I ever read anything to equal it, and I know that I never read anything to surpass it." An early critic on Joyce's completed "Ulysses"....
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Stephen Fry has given a nice sense of why the book is so good without drowning us with sesquipedalian logorrhea: nice touch comparing it with The Great Gatsby. Ulysses is The Great Gatsby of the novel form, which Joyce renewed, bringing to the novel a new form, an invigoration of content, the dying fall of the daily cycle, and a few choice, well chosen characters of Dublin life.
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What we were told when I was studying English Lit. in college, is that it was too difficult to read without help. I think I will follow Stephen's advice and read it again, just on my own.
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In Stephen Fry's defense; the last phrase "and yes I said, yes I will, Yes" has the word recurring thrice (much as a brinded cat hath); if one thinks in terms of pitch and rhythm, we can see how the ever-delightful Mister Fry got to that mis-statement.... I am delighted to see this video. Thank you for posting it.
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Started reading it last week for the first time, and I love it. I'm just moving on to chapter 2. I like it.
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100th anniversary of the publication this year. Yes, yes, yes to Melle Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Co Paris, for taking a giant leap of faith in its publication. Interestingly, when it was first published it was banned in many countries, except for Ireland. The authorities here said that “no one would bother to read it anyway”. Well, they got that one wrong…..
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Stephen Fry... He MUST have a photographic memory; he's such a genius. Or maybe his genius lies within being such a lovely human being.
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Well said sir, I'm a Dubliner and proud of it. If I had a problem with it, it was as you said how the style changes per chapter. But yes it was one great read
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I’m on page 300 now, and although it is terribly difficult and often illogical I have cried, numerous times, reading about Molly and Milly and the beauty of it all. The sexuality is quite liberating, I find. Also, McKenna and Morrison, as well as Monroe read it! Honestly, this is the most meaningful book ever. 🙂 Oh, and the poetry is so cutting! “Sea of the cunt”! (Excuse my profanities!)
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What a joy that he mentioned Dutch as his random example. Am reading the boldly retitled recent Dutch tandem translation "Ulixes" side by side with Joyce's original, even though I could read the English directly and purely -- oh the immortally childish pleasure of blasphemy!
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I am currently reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Joyce, but I might have to read Ulysses now that I know Stephen loves it so much
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Really, both are amazing books if only because of the use of the English language. I'm so glad he also spoke about The Great Gatsby... one of my all time favorites... and he's right; Ulysses is a perfect book. If you find yourself getting through both of these books, chances are you will find yourself a lover of words, language, and you just might read them both again and again. :o)
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I feel the same 100%. A line that hasn't left me "They say a nun invented Barbwire"
