/lit/ - Literature

Ulysses is great but can't be read without acknowledging Portrait. Both 10/10. The two go together entirely in order to complete Stephen's arc, even though there really isn't much of one. He ends where he begins, in that lonely chasm of the early morning (shown by him being a young boy in Portrait, and him walking away early morning in Ulysses). Ulysses to me seemed more about Stephen, despite the fact we spend more time with Bloom, I feel that Ulysses simply adds onto Portrait and the two become a continual work, a river of sorts, and that at a certain point it breaks into sections, one for Bloom, the other for Stephen, with each having their own shoulders and paths for other random characters. But the backbone of the river is Stephen, despite the face more pages are dealt with Bloom, the real emotional value and intensity is dealt with Stephen. His mother coming through the floor made me seize up in terror and cry due to the earlier establishment of his issues causing the maternal issue to climax there as well as the story (arguably). Even in Portrait, with his moment with the prostitute and his lonely walks and talks with others has much more emotional value and intensity than the whole of Bloom's path. Not saying that Bloom and his story is devoid of emotion and power, but rather it is merely less than Stephen's.