• Lyre@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    5 months ago

    The thing i always think about is that qoute from Virginia Wolfe where she likens the writing to a schoolboy doing stunts for the sake of getting attention. I remember thinking that was exactly how it felt while I was reading Ulysses, it felt like a highschool creative writer mashing things together without considering whether it was actually good or not.

    However im not going to sit here and pretend im an objective critic. The book is obviously famous and important for a reason. I’m interested to know how it saved your life, if you feel like sharing

    • iagomago
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      taught me once and for all that while death might be always near, a fear that’s constantly devouring our lives and paralysing them to the point where it feels like our deepest, inner self is a husk shell of what we once were, we can still find the reason of our existence in the joys of living a life that’s devoted in equal part to mystery, sensuality, knowledge and wonder. And it says this in the most democratic way you could think: everyone is entitled and deserving of the complexity of life. Oh, and also: it’s an absolutely hilarious book to read through.

      • Lyre@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 months ago

        Very well said, did you ever read the sort-of-prequel portrait of the artist as a young man?

        • iagomago
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          absolutely, I only need to break through Finnegans Wake and I’ll have read all of his works