Ulysses Audiobook By James Joyce cover art

Ulysses

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Ulysses

By: James Joyce
Narrated by: John Lee
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Joyce’s experimental masterpiece set a new standard for modernist fiction, pushing the English language past all previous thresholds in its quest to capture a day in the life of an Everyman in turn-of-the-century Dublin. Obliquely borrowing characters and situations from Homer’s Odyssey, Joyce takes us on an internal odyssey along the current of thoughts, impressions, and experiences that make up the adventure of living an average day.

As his characters stroll, eat, ruminate, and argue through the streets of Dublin, Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness narrative artfully weaves events, emotions, and memories in a free flow of imagery and associations.

Full of literary references, parody, and uncensored vulgarity, Ulysses has been considered controversial and challenging, but always brilliant and rewarding.

Public Domain (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Literary Fiction Classics Fiction Genre Fiction

Critic reviews

“Comes nearer to being the perfect revelation of a personality than any book in existence." ( New York Times)
"To my mind one of the most significant and beautiful books of our time." (Gilbert Seldes, The Nation)
“Joyce soars to such rhapsodies of beauty as have probably never been equaled in English prose fiction." (Edmund Wilson, The New Republic)
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I'd put off reading ULYSSES for decades. I now understand why it was considered the best novel of the 20th Century.

Superb novel and performance!

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I've read this book at high school to feel myself modern and educated and I sort of struggled to the end. I must notice that proper narrator changes things dramatically. John Lee is the king amongst narrators indeed.

So immensely Irish. So mesmerizing and vivid.

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The reading is magnificent. Through the crowded pages and episodes of literally hundreds of characters, the narrator, John Lee, manages to catch in all their tones, quirks, and color the distinct voices of each. His inflection, pitch, and cadence is clear and deadly accurate. Not only are the rolling rhythms of Joyce's prose maintained with uncanny naturalness--thoughts are recognizable as such (not merely rendered as captioned overlays) and the tones, timbres, moods, and motives of the enormous flood of speech are rendered in as richly and varied accents as they would if one were walking the streets of Dublin.

From heavy Latinate meditations to the onomatopoeic replication of linotype machines in the newspaper office and the raucous imitation of a gramophone recording of a deceased grandfather, Lee's renderings are palpably believable as both the realities they represent and, more importantly, as empathetic interpretations of the individual hearts and minds they issue from.

I was first a bit wary of the lower cost and ratings of this version compared with the nearly tripled price of the most reviewed recording (who knows what they were thinking), but after listening to the provided sample of its long stretches of rushed and flattened monotone and hokey interpolated music recordings, I moved on to find this gem. It does what Joyce's greatest gift does--bring the full panorama of humanity to life purely through language.

Pure Joyce

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This is James Joyce fired out of a cannon. An impressive demonstration of narrative athleticism by the talented John Lee does not compensate for a lengthy difficult listen and lack of nuance. It may possibly have been compressed in post production on the other hand to squeeze it into a certain time frame in which case they should de-compress it and re-publish. The nuance might bloom once it has air. 60% speed should do it. Then you might have a great audio.

A forceful narration but a long haul

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I really hope that they do not take this portion away from the movie. I have truly enjoyed this book for many years and am glad to see that it has made a comeback.

light over dark

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