Ulysses (James Joyce)

Probably one of the most complicated books ever written, the story parallels Homer’s The Odyssey, and touches on every theme that exists, as well as explores every literary style that exists. At times, it has extremely lude and graphic sexual content and very foul language. Taking Homer’s Odyssey as a structural framework, Joyce builds on it a complex narrative of Dublin characters on one day – Thursday 16 June 1904. Each chapter features a different prose-style to match its theme or subject. One chapter is even written in a manner which traces the history of English prose, from the Renaissance to modern advertising jargon.This includes the famous final chapter which is an unpunctuated eighty page soliloquy of Molly Bloom as she lies in bed at night, thinking over her life and the events of the previous day. Ulysses is a cornerstone of modern English Literature – written aby an Irishman in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris.