Len McCarthy

Louis Stewart: Joyce Notes

by Ian Patterson
May 23, 2026

Few books have provoked such acclaim and disdain as Ulysses (1922), James Joyce's dense and dazzling opus. Banned in the UK, subject to an obscenity trial in the USA, scrutinized, vilified and glorified, it has inspired and baffled in equal measure. Its experimental stream-of-consciousness style--liberally laced with puns and mordant humor--has proven a literary Everest for many, an indigestible slog for others. Even Joyce's wife allegedly observed: “Why don't you write books people can read?" With ...