James Joyce's Ulysses

What or who is Odysseus & what or who is Ulysses? Are they both different names of same people or different people? Are they two works of Literature written by same person or two different works? What is the similarity and what is the difference? So many questions.....I have attempted to throw light on these questions here in this post. Hoping that my friends who have read Ulysses will add to this data of knowledge about Ulysses....

James Joyce's novel Ulysses uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom and chronicles his passage through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904.  Bloom’s day turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus’ twenty years of wandering. The title alludes to Odysseus (Latinised into Ulysses), the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and establishes a series of parallels between characters and events in Homer's poem and Joyce's novel (e.g., the correspondence of Leopold Bloom to Odysseus, Molly Bloom to Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus). Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.  In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

It is no secret that James Joyce's novel Ulysses mimics Homer's Odyssey. Joyce planned for the novel to be a mock heroic epic; he created characters that resembled Homer's, included Homer's major themes like the quest for a father and the intervention of gods, there are some similar situations in both works only Joyce's are modernized to the early 1900's in Ireland. Also to parallel Homer's story Joyce includes many Greek allusions and allusions to the many political happenings during the time, these correspond with Homer's stories of the gods and goddesses and other people of mythological importance. Planned out with annotated notebooks Joyce writes his Odyssey to be like the original.

In both The Odyssey and ULYSSES, Odysseus/Ulysses is initially thwarted by Poseidon, god of the Sea. Odysseus/Ulysses must pass the Sirens in order to make it home. Odysseus/Ulysses also talks to an old friend once he lands on Ithaca, then disguises himself as a beggar to get into the castle. In both versions, he successfully strings his bow, proving his identity. Also, a fight breaks out after he shoots someone with an arrow. He declares his true identity and is restored to his rightful place.

There are more differences in the two tales than similarities. The differences start with the ship. Odysseus' ship is taken by the sea in a storm. Ulysses' ship is taken by pirates. Odysseus meets with the Sirens before his ship is smashed and he does not break free of his bonds, since his crew ties him tightly and cannot themselves hear the songs. Ulysses breaks free of his bonds, only to be restrained by Xena's more alluring song. In The Odyssey, there is no doubt that Odysseus is trying to get home. In ULYSSES, Poseidon tells Ulysses that Penelope is dead, so Ulysses falls in love with Xena.

Both versions show a man who must overcome many obstacles to reach his home. The two versions have similar elements and some of the same episodes (the Sirens, the old friend, the bow stringing) but end very differently. Other episodes have taken stories or myths and deftly wound many characters  into them, making their inclusion fairly plausible.

The book can be seen as three separate stories like the Odyssey. The three parts of the Odyssey are entitled "The Quest of Telemachus", "The Wanderings of Odysseus", and "The Return and Vegeance" which correspond to chapters one through three, four through fifteen, and sixteen to eighteen, respectively. The Lotus-Eaters   chapter is basically a generalization of the Odyssey. The whole chapter is a microcosm of Odysseus wanderings. Bloom journies around Dublin and sees various stores and shops this can be seen as Odysseus travels to various islands and places of civilization.

Ulysses is divided into eighteen episodes and it’s  stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—full of puns, parodies, and allusions, as well as its rich characterisations and broad humour, made the book a highly regarded novel in the Modernist pantheon.

Homer

A very good friend of mine and I had been having discussions about Homer’s Odysseus, the inspiration for my blog and Ulysses of James Joyce since many days. The discussions were quite lengthy and interesting, and being Professor of English Literature, I was very passionate about discussing these two well known works with my friend who was incidentally an engineer, but loved reading classics and wished to read these two epics. These lovely discussions sparked off my interest in taking a second look at these two epics and I present here for those interested, some information about Homer’s Odysseus. It would of course be best to read the epic itself!

Odysseus (Greek) or Ulysses (Latin) was the Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle. Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness, and is most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the ten-year Trojan War. Perhaps Odysseus' most famous contribution to the Greek war effort was devising the strategem of the Trojan Horse, which allowed the Greek army to sneak into Troy under cover of darkness. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors, led by Odysseus. 

 In The Odyssey, Odysseus incurs Poseidon's wrath by being on the winning side of the Battle of Troy and not giving the proper thanks to the god, Poseidon, for the victory. He levied a curse on him to never return home, and Odysseus wandered the Mediterranean Sea for years as he was kept at sea by storms and winds and various stumbling blocks.  They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters and were captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, only escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon, who had blinded him. They stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds; he gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking that it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight.

Odysseus escapes and is shipwrecked and befriended by the Phaeacians. After telling them his story, the Phaeacians led by King Alcinous agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbor on Ithaca. Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar in order to learn how things stand in his household. Odysseus then returns to his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He experiences the suitors' rowdy behavior and plans their death. He meets Penelope his wife and tests her intentions. 

The next day, Penelope maneuvers the suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus' bow. The man who can string the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition. No man could even string the bow until Odysseus, still disguised as a homeless person, strung the bow before the eyes of the stunned suitors. As the courtyard was sealed to keep the suitors from escaping, Odysseus revealed his identity and slew all the suitors who had been pillaging his land as well as the servants that had aided them. Now at last, Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope. She still does not recognize him, until she brings up a subject that only Odysseus would know about.

 Sersi, meanwhile, had borne him a son too named Telegonus. Wishing to meet his father, Telegonus left Aeaea and ended up landing at Ithaca without realizing it. Raiding the land for provisions, he was met by Odysseus in combat and killed him without knowing he was his father. Odysseus ended up dying from a spear tipped in the venom of a stingray that actually fulfilled the  prediction of Odysseus  death coming from the sea.  The adventures of the Trojan War and Odysseus' adventures at sea are retold in the classic The Iliad and the Odyssey (respectively).