Stuart Gilbert (1) (1883–1969)

Scholarly introduction to Ulysses. Gilbert knew Joyce, and it's probable Joyce directly gave him many of the ideas regarding the structure and mythological parallels of Ulysses. The danger of course with this and many other Joycean scholarly explanations is that one may get caught up in the explanations and forgo the direct experience of reading Ulysses on one's own. But Gilbert's book, subtitled "A Study," is indispensable for readers who, first of all, want to know why the book is titled "Ulysses" when it takes place in Dublin, Ireland, in 1904. Beginning on page 97, Gilbert's book is divided into 18 sections, one each for the untitled "Episodes" in "Ulysses." This is very helpful as a guide. Each of Gilbert's 18 sections begins with a helpful outline of Joyce's Ulysses chapter. For example:

14. The Oxen of the Sun
Scene The Hospital
Hour 10 p.m.
Organ Womb
Art Medicine
Colour White
Symbol Mothers
Technic Embryonic Development

But again, do you need this sort of analysis and interpretation to read Ulysses? No. Then why bother? It's a kind of anthropological reading. And it's true that, even if Joyce didn't intend all of it, he did underscore his writing with scads and loads of references and allusions, many of which the common reader might miss without some help.

Still, not to belabor the point, but one does wonder how all the scholarly after-words square with some of Joyce's own comments about his methods and writing in general. For example, from Arthur Powers's book, "Conversations with James Joyce":

“A writer’s purpose is to describe the life of his day, and I chose Dublin because it is the focal point of the Ireland of today, its heart-beat you may say, and to ignore that would be affectation.”

And this, also from Powers's book:

“A book should not be planned out beforehand, but as one writes it will form itself, subject, as I say, to the constant emotional promptings of one’s personality.”

Suffice to say that Joyce's Ulysses contains all of this: the scholarly, the vernacular, the sacred and profane. It can be read either way, but it should be read first for pleasure, then for the stuff Stuart Gilbert explores. And if readers want to read but one of the many Ulysses explanatory books now available, they can't go wrong with Gilbert's study.… (mais)