Ulysses “Seen” — Robert Berry

Posted on by Biblioklept

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Because of its daunting reputation, many readers shy away from James Joyce’s Ulysses, when really the book is not nearly as challenging as some literati would have you believe. It’s funny and poignant and moving, and sure, it’s loaded with so many allusions that you’d have to spend a lifetime sorting them out, but once you get into its rhythm, its voices, it’s actually not that hard to read, and it’s certainly one of the most rewarding books I’ve ever read. One of the key difficulties for readers new to Ulysses is simply penetrating those first few pages, getting a visual for what’s going on with Buck Mulligan and young Stephen. Because Joyce is transposing events, both mythically, religiously, and chronologically, the opening is particularly challenging–especially because Joyce doesn’t explicate these shifts for the reader. There are plenty of aids out there, of course, from Harry Blamires’s The New Bloomsday Book to Joseph Campbell‘s fantastic lectures, and readers new to the book should not feel daunted or put off by the fact that this book might require a good. Led by Robert Berry, the folks at  Throwaway Horse have started a new project, a comic book representation of Ulysses that is, to say the least, wildly ambitious. I’ll let them put it in their own words:

“Ulysses ‘SEEN’” is the inaugural project of Throwaway Horse LLC. Throwaway Horse is devoted to fostering understanding of public domain literary masterworks by joining the visual aid of the graphic novel with the explicatory aid of the internet. By creating “Web 2.0” versions of these works, we hope to proliferate and help to not only preserve them, but ensure their continued vitality and relevance. Throwaway Horse projects are meant to be mere companion pieces to the works themselves—by outfitting the reader with the familiar gear of the comic narrative and the progressive gear of web annotations, we hope that a tech-savvy new generation of readers will be able to cut through jungles of unfamiliar references and appreciate the subtlety and artistry of the original books themselves which they otherwise might have neglected.

So far, Berry has illustrated the first chapter (commonly referred to as “Telemachus”). Berry’s work is far more detailed than I initially had imagined was possible, and there are even useful annotations by scholar Mike Barsanti. This is truly a massive project, given the level of detail Berry has committed to the first chapter, and I think it will be an invaluable resource to readers new to Ulysses as well as those who’ve already been through the book before. Here’s hoping that we’ll get all the way to Molly’s final monologue!

(Thanks to Nick for the tip).

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Published by Biblioklept

9 thoughts on “Ulysses “Seen” — Robert Berry”

  2. Thanks so much for your kind words. We really appreciate it – and yes, we are in it for the long haul. You will get to see Molly’s final monologue.

    I just wanted to point out to you that you’ve somehow found the old test version of the site, which I had put under my own domain. If you link to ulyssesseen.com, you’ll find much more reader’s guide content (including our correspondence with the viewers, a better comic interface, and a much faster load speed.

    Lastly, I also wanted to let you know that we hope to be a runaway horse, we are Throwaway Horse.

    Thanks again for the review and the link, and we encourage you to log in and contribute some thoughts and comments. One of the greatest things about this project is the audience participation.

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  3. Thanks!
    (and I hope we make all the way to “yes” as well. Seems funny to think of spending ten years of my life illustrating the events of just one day.)
    Its a big project, but the only way to possibly do something like this is by engaging the active participation of fans of the novel, letting them help with casting choices, links to historical context and insights to Joyce’s riddles on our blog site. My goal here is to use comics as a popular medium for conveying the beauty and poetry of the book for new readers and Joyceans alike. Feel free to drop by the site with any suggestions or questions.
    And thanks again for the great review,
    -Rob

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  4. Thanks, guys. I blame the initial test version link on Mike Watt’s Twitter feed (that guy from The Minutemen), but it’s fixed now. The “real” version of the site is quite impressive–and I was impressed to begin with…

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  6. I love the Falstaffian character of Malachi Mulligan. I also love this part where he holds up the mirror to Stephen Dedalus. I like the line, “Who chose this face for me?” The appeal is metaphysical.

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  9. I love this statement, “it’s loaded with so many allusions that you’d have to spend a lifetime sorting them out, but once you get into its rhythm, its voices, it’s actually not that hard to read, and it’s certainly one of the most rewarding books I’ve ever read.” I’m still searching for a hardcover book of James Joyce… I start to listen its audibook version..

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