MEET LEOPOLD BLOOM - James Joyce's Modern Ulysses by Anna Laghigna

Bloomsday

laghigna — 2020-04-13 10:23:31 UTC

It is celebrated every year on 16th June

laghigna — 2020-04-13 10:37:30 UTC

Francesco

2020-04-15 09:25:05 UTC

I think James Joyce felt the necessity to write Ulysses with the aim of describing the new human condition in modern times. I think, James Joyce might have wanted to link his novel to mythology because he wanted to deal with the deepest human issues.

Giorgia

2020-04-15 09:26:12 UTC

I don't think that Leopold Bloom is going to be depicted like a hero, I expect other people treating him like a fool or some sort of crazy person.

vittoria c

2020-04-15 09:26:12 UTC

I think that James Joyce wanted to talk about modern times in order to innovate the way of writing and create a contrast between the reality and the mythology that are two different themes. Moreover, he wanted to highlight the differences. James Joyce's reality was modern and in contrast with the values of the classical era. James Joyce might have wanted to encourage his readers to think in a different way.

Noemi

2020-04-15 09:26:23 UTC

His decision to choose the epic genre to describe modern society could be linked to his purpose to create a sort of contrast between the two realities in order to highlight the most relevant and significant concepts

Adreana

2020-04-15 09:26:30 UTC

I think she would be presented like an arrogant woman, who likes being in the centre of attention. She is not like classical Penelope, because she is unfaithful to her husband.

Benedetta

2020-04-15 09:26:47 UTC

I expect of Leopold Bloom to be depicted as the opposite of a hero.
I think he would be looked at as awkard and weird by the society.

Vittoria D

2020-04-15 09:28:07 UTC

I think that Leopold Bloom is going to be depicted as a hero because the author wants to describe an ancient myth as a structure for the modern novel.

Giorgia

2020-04-15 09:28:07 UTC

In the past, Penelope was the symbol of true love and loyalty to her husband. But I don't think that we are going to see the same traits in Molly Bloom, also because the current vision of love is more like a free, spontaneous and sensual kind of love.

Benedetta

2020-04-15 09:28:29 UTC

I think Molly Bloom would be unfaithful to Leopold.

Noemi

2020-04-15 09:28:59 UTC

In my opinion, Joyce will use a mythical character, known for his extraordinary qualities, to portrait the figure of an anti-hero, or maybe a realistic hero, characterized by defects and imperfections.

Benedetta

2020-04-15 09:29:42 UTC

I expect Stephen Dedalus to be lazy and spoiled.

federica

2020-04-15 09:29:54 UTC

Penelope was a patient and faithful woman, who would patiently be waiting for her husband. She was a symbol of loyalty and true love.
I expect Molly Bloom as a modern Penelope to be an unfaithful woman, who doesn't respect her husband. She would be probably have an impulsive character.

Adreana

2020-04-15 09:30:35 UTC

I think Leopold Bloom will be not the typical hero. I think he is going to be someone who everyone can relate to. Maybe with this hero Joyce wanted to create a new type, a hero who deals with every day life problems.

Riccardo

2020-04-15 09:30:40 UTC

I don´t think that Molly Bloom can even be like Penelope since the most important thing was her faithfulness towards Ulysses which Molly doesn´t have

Genny

2020-04-15 09:30:44 UTC

I think Joyce wanted to write about modern times because of the contrast he wanted to create between the real life and the mythological world.

Giada

2020-04-15 09:30:53 UTC

I think that Joyce felt the need to write an epic about modern times because he wanted to highlight that society and its values had radically changed.

Benedetta

2020-04-15 09:30:56 UTC

I think James Joyce felt the need to write an epic about modern times to highlight the differences in mentality between mythology and his contemporary time.

Ludovica

2020-04-15 09:31:11 UTC

I think Leopold won’t be depicted as a hero because the idea of a hero is now gone and it doesn’t have the same value as it used to in the past.

2020-04-15 09:31:28 UTC

Eleonora
I think that he wants to describe the society from another point of view. He wants to compare the two different life styles.

Giorgia

2020-04-15 09:32:44 UTC

I think that Joyce chose to write an epic about modern times to show the differences with the past, with its values and beliefs. This could link up to mythology as some of the people in the novel may look like mythological characters.

Ludovica

2020-04-15 09:32:48 UTC

Because he wanted to bring the focus on how society has changed and compare it to modern values and habits.

Elena

2020-04-15 09:32:52 UTC

First of all I think that James Joyce wrote Ulysses in order to show us a parallelism between the contemporaneity and antiquity of society. Secondly, I think he wanted to point out the differences between places and people in order to let us understand the evolution of all these things and how everything changed.

Vittoria D

2020-04-15 09:33:09 UTC

In my opinion, Molly Bloom won't be like Penelope because she is an unfaithful wife

Ludovica

2020-04-15 09:33:46 UTC

I think Molly will be the total opposite of what Penelope actually was like.

Agnese

2020-04-15 09:34:22 UTC

I expect Leopoldo Bloom to be an anti-hero and his wife to be unfaithful. I believe that Joyce wants to break with the tradition. In particular,he desires to overturn all the values in order to show us that things can be seen from different points of view. It is illusory to think that life can always be perfect. Joyce may also want to explain to us that the negative side of each human being is something natural and we have to accept it.

Eleonora

2020-04-15 09:35:30 UTC

I think that Leopold Boom will be more human compared to a mythological hero.

Noemi

2020-04-15 09:35:45 UTC

I think that Joyce would depict Penelope as an opportunistic woman, attracted by superficiality and trivialities.

Ludovica

2020-04-15 09:37:41 UTC

Maybe he will describe him the same way as Telemachus was, immature and young.

Eleonora

2020-04-15 09:42:30 UTC

I believe that Joyce will not imitate the character of Penelope but he will attribute different characteristics to his female protagonist.

Adreana

2020-04-15 15:01:34 UTC

I think Stephen would be a secondary character that is remains in the shadow of Leopold Bloom and his wife. I think he could be young and immature.

Adreana

2020-04-15 15:03:42 UTC

I think he used this genre because he wanted to show the parallelism between past and present and how the needs of our age have changed

TED ED Video Lesson

laghigna — 2020-04-16 10:07:30 UTC

In this video with online activities we are going to dig deeper about the narrative structure of Ulysses by James Joyce
https://ed.ted.com/on/j9AhxkzA

Ulysses in images

laghigna — 2020-04-17 11:34:58 UTC

Read from the novel and let yourself be guided by a collection of old photos and drawings - some belonging to Joyce's own collection.

Carolina

2020-04-17 12:49:52 UTC

In my opinion Leopold Bloom won'y be depicted as a hero because Joyce wants to use a mythical character that seems crazy and weird at people.

Carolina

2020-04-17 12:53:27 UTC

Because he wanted to show the main differences between the past and the present and how things and needs change.

Federica

laghigna — 2020-04-22 08:46:47 UTC

Ulysses is a very good reflection of real life through a fictional story.
Joyce has turned everyday life into a masterpiece.
The author uses a style that does not describe in a linear way the actions and thoughts of the characters observing them from a privileged point of view, as literature had done up to that moment, but brings them back as they follow one another in their heads, mixing the random thoughts that accompany everyday life, is the flow of consciousness, that characterizes each of us.
With this quote, Joyce wants to underline the value of literature over time, a value that remains current and modern.
Ulysses is a novel rooted in everyday life, which becomes an epic poem.
In the ordinary actions that unite us, he finds the celebration of daily life which he describes in the most honest and faithful way possible, without censorship or literary filters.

vittoria c

2020-04-22 08:53:25 UTC

I think that reading 'Ulysses' is important because it allows us to understand what is the difference in the writing of the time, that is, of Ulysses who travels to remote places and then returns to his faithful wife, in contrast with another Ulysses who stays out of his house for a few hours and finds his unfaithful wife. The difference between different cultures and different eras makes us part of this literature so broad. It also makes us understand that literature also speaks of us, simple men with problems and hardship that must be faced every day and that no man is perfect and leads a perfect life as one might think by reading other works.

Noemi

2020-04-22 09:08:12 UTC

With this quote, Joyce remarks the literary value of a work that is still capable of involving many readers today: reading this book means getting involved and challenging yourself in order to truly appreciate this masterpiece and your own life experience.
This novel is considered difficult because of its revolutionary features, that reverse the epic canon of tradition, telling the story of modern man in his daily wanderings: reading it could be a way of exploring the truth behind the human condition which can be considered as an extremely hard process.

Benedetta

2020-04-22 09:33:25 UTC

In my opinion James Joyce refers to his transparent way of writing,telling the truth about real social situations. If the reader can not find anything worthwhile in the book,which presents real life themes,it is not worth living.

Adreana

2020-04-22 09:51:08 UTC

I think he said so because "Ulysses" shows us the importance of every single second of our life.Sometimes people don´t realize what can happen in a short time.When you think of a book with a lot of pages like 900 pages,you would expect that the story doesn´t last just one day,because in our consection hours,minuts and seconds are not so important,so generally we don´t give the right importance to every day life.

2020-04-22 15:37:40 UTC

Eleonora

I think Joyce use this quote because Ulysses is not a simple book to read, you must have to dig deep to find its true meaning.
Ulysses is a good reflection of real life through a fictional story, infact, Joyce changes completely the characteristic of the characters compared to the Odyssey ones. For example Homer return home to his faithful wife and Leopold Bloom return home to his unfaithful wife.

Agnese

2020-04-24 07:44:40 UTC

"Ulysses" is a long and deep journey inside the human soul. Everyone can mirror himself with Bloom, the main character. He is an anti-hero,because he doesn't have a perfect life or do something special. He is an ordinary man such as everyone. It is hard,satisfying and pleasent reading this masterpiece,but this is life. If everyone reads this book or some extracts, I'm sure that everyone will enjoy much more living life, because we will be more conscious of ourself!

Francesco

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:15:27 UTC

I suppose James Joyce wrote "Ulysses" with a great purpose in mind: he wanted to describe the psychological and social nature of the modern man, at the beginning of 20th century.
Joyce does not want to idealize or mystify the human nature...indeed, ironically, he criticizes the modern society by ironically comparing it with Ulysses's Odyssey.
After all, for a person living at the beginning at the 20th century, (and, probably still for us nowadays), "Ulysses" can still be interesting. This is what I think of Joyce's "Ulysses", although we have not read it, yet.

Carolina

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:20:23 UTC

I think that Joyce wants us to think about the importance of time in our lives.
We have to enjoy every single second, minute, hour and we have to appreciate everything that can happen in this time. I think that he wants us to reflect on the fact that we often underestimate the value of time and we don’t give the right importance to it.

Antonio

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:22:06 UTC

I think James Joyce refers to real life. He tries to put in his book all the facets of life. Ulysses tells about concrete social facts and it’s for this reason that every reader can find the book difficult, frustrating or fun depending on their social situation and way of feeeling and perceving life.

Marco

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:23:40 UTC

I think James Joyce wanted to criticize the society of the 20th century, which was too much concerned about unnecessary distractions.
The importance of how man uses his time has a considerable value, this is what gives meaning to our life.

Giada

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:24:57 UTC

In my opinion, James Joyce wanted to highlight how his novel portrays the nuances of the human being and his existence.
Reading Ulysses means being able to consciously grasp all the different perspectives which characterize our life.
Moreover it will make us capable of dealing with difficult situations because we will know how to look at them from different points of view.

Giorgia

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:27:42 UTC

Ulysses portraits the social characteristics of the modern society and it can easily be perceived as a life lesson for the reader.
Ulysses is worth reading because the details, themes and writing techniques used can open up a new world and elevate our perspective of the reality.
Readers can identify themselves with the characters and understand other ways of thinking and conveying their feelings.

laghigna — 2020-05-04 17:29:50 UTC

Which of the excerpts we read from Ulysses, did you like?
Did the book meet your expectations? Was it different from what you expected?
What was interesting/boring?
Considering what you have learnt, would you recommend Ulysses for next fifth-year students? Why? Why not?

Agnese

2020-05-07 09:32:25 UTC

I was so surprised by "Ulysses", because I did not expect the book to be so difficult to read. I thought it would just describe the character's different points of view. Unlike what I believed, reading Ulysses is like directly entering in the character's mind and getting to know exactly what their thoughts are as they develop in their minds, like for example in Molly's stream of consciousness. Very interesting! The last chapter dedicated to Molly is absolutely my favourite part that we studied in class. When I read it for the first time, I was extremely confused and also a bit bored, but as I read it more and more times, I started to understand something. It's really challenging, because if you want to comprehend her point of view about life, you must put all your attention!
I absolutely recommend studying this novel to next fifth-year students, because it makes you understand that reality can be split up in different points of view. Reading this book could even help people to become more open-minded.

Adreana

2020-05-07 11:01:04 UTC

I think Ulysses is an interesting novel.I think the interior monologs were the part I prefer,because it show us the pure trains of thoughs of the characters.At the begining I though it would be much easyer to understand Ulysses,but the fact it was at same point challenging make it even more interesting!
I would recommend it,because its very interesting and because if people stay just in the simple texts,they will never improve.

Federica

2020-05-07 12:31:53 UTC

Some people might consider Ulysses overrated, hostile and difficult to understanding.
I found it brilliant, modern and captivating.
First of all get into Molly's thoughts, discover a new world through the flow of consciousness.
Furthermore, finding yourself in Molly's thoughts is absolutely interesting, stimulating and thought provoking.
Joyce's way of writing, in particular with regard to the narrative style, the absence of punctuation in some episodes, the themes treated, the way in which he portrays reality, make Joyce a different author from the others, making him unique and special.

Giada

2020-05-07 12:33:05 UTC

The excerpt which I appreciate most is the Molly's monologue from episode 18. I was particulary impressed by this passage because it is structured as a flow of ideas and incarnate completely the poetry of James Joyce.
I found Ulysses stylistically difficult, because the narration consists in ideas which are connected to each other without a cronological order.
Moreover Joyce decided to avoid the use of punctuation and this choice made the narration confusing.
I would certainly recommend reading James joyce because his way of writing is extremely innovative and stimulating. This author has a way of portray the events which is absolutely different from the other authors.

2020-05-07 15:50:42 UTC

Eleonora
I think that the novel "Ulysses" is really interesting but it is difficult to understand and also it's difficult to find its true meaning.
I really appreciated the interior monologue by Molly Bloom because I discovered in her a woman full of love and life.
I recommend reading Ulysses because it is a small piece of what was the revolutionary and innovative figure of James Joyce.

Ludovica

2020-05-08 06:26:57 UTC

The excerpt I appreciated the most was definitely Molly's monologue. I think Joyce did something very revolutionary with this part because I've never read something like this. It had no punctuation and it reflected the real train of thought that happens in our minds. The book itself was something I didn't expect. It is complicated to understand because it doesn't follow a chronological order, but I would definitely recommend reading it to future students.

Giorgia

2020-05-08 07:24:35 UTC

I personally think that James Joyce was ahead of his time. Ulysses is such a modern and current work; the readers can identify themselves with the characters. Even the level of difficulty of the book is probably intentional, it portrays the intricacy of the human mind. Reading the chapters written with different techniques and literary styles was very interesting and captivating. I would recommend Ulysses to the next fifth-year students, because it can open up a new world.

Benedetta

2020-05-08 07:59:31 UTC

The excerpts I liked most is Molly’s monologue from episode 18. The flow of consciousness’ style fascinated me and made me identified with Molly. I didn’t expect such a modern and innovative style. The aspect I found most interesting was the characters’ humanity, they were humble and real. I would definitely recommend “Ulysses” for next fifth-year students because in this work, James Joyce overturns the homeric myth adapting it to his times,showing us that even modern heroes ,despite their failings ,can be considered strong and unique.

Noemi

2020-05-08 08:00:12 UTC

This famous book by James Joyce has been hailed as a literary masterpiece, but it makes tough reading: not everybody would be able to appreciate how thong provoking it is. Having a depth knowledge of literatue is an important factor that allows the reader to understand and enjoy better this book despite its difficulty.

The excerpt that I liked most is the Molly’s soliloquy: it perfectly shows how innovative and original Joyce’s poetic is and, thanks to its frankness and realism, I found it very captivating!

It was surely an extremely difficult book to analyze, but I really enjoyed being able to understand how original its style, themes and content are!