What does Ulysses mainly talk about?

Ulysses is the work of Irish novelist Joyce. Joyce's Ulysses is the main achievement of novel creation and is regarded as a classic of stream-of-consciousness novels. The work marks that the stream of consciousness has really become the only description object and basic creation method of the novel. The novel was conceived as early as 1906. The specific writing took seven years from 19 14. After the novel was published, it was banned in Britain and America for a long time, and it was not until the end of 1933 that it was lifted by the court.

Ulysses focuses on the daily life of citizens in Dublin, Ireland, and reveals the spiritual activities of modern people. This day is 1904 June 16. Joyce and Nora met for the first time. But for others, this is just an ordinary day in history. The plot of the work is diluted, mainly recording the daily trivia and inner life of Stephen Daedalus, Leopold Bloom and his wife Molly. Stephen has a sharp mind and is full of artistic temperament. He is always thinking about everything, but always can't find a way out, eager to seek spiritual guidance and dependence. Bloom is an advertising manager. Many years ago, his youngest son died, and then his wife had an affair. He was very upset. As a Jew, he always has a sense of loss in a foreign land and longs for family affection and warmth. Molly is an energetic woman. Because of her husband's incompetence, she often trysts with her lover and is eager for love.

This book has three parts. The first three chapters focus on Stephen, writing about his mother's death and his biological father's drinking. He ran away from home in despair and found a sense of father and son in Bloom's heart. The second chapter, chapter 12, focuses on Bloom's activities from 8 am to 2 pm. He made breakfast after getting up and sent it to his wife's bedside. Molly is a famous singer. Her agent and lover arranged for her to perform abroad recently and come to her house in the afternoon. Bloom worries about his wife's tryst with her lover all day. When he 10 went out, he first went to the post office to retrieve his lover's love letter, then took a carriage to attend Dignam's funeral, reported the advertising plan to the editor-in-chief at noon, and then ran around the city in the afternoon, successively going to the library, Aumund Hotel, Cornand Hotel and the beach. In the afternoon 10, I went to the hospital to visit Mrs Mina Peurifoy, who was in dystocia. Stephen and the medical students talked loudly in the canteen and got drunk, inviting everyone to the Burke Hotel to continue drinking. Bloom was worried and left with him. At midnight 12, Stephen was knocked down by British soldiers in a brothel. Bloom hallucinated that he was his dead son Rudy, lifted him up from the ground and found a warm feeling of affection. The third chapter tells the story of Bloom taking Stephen to an all-night hotel for coffee and then taking him home. Stephen didn't drink. They had a heart-to-heart talk in the living room. Bloom kept Stephen overnight. Stephen resigned with gratitude. Bloom went back to the bedroom and went to bed with many ideas. After two o'clock in the morning, Molly seemed to wake up and found a feeling of wholehearted love in her dream. The novel ended in her unconsciousness.

This novel intends to establish a comparative relationship with Homer's epic. The title of the book is taken from Odysseus' Latin name, and the characters, plot and structure are in contrast with Odysseus. This epic was originally divided into three parts, telling the story of Telemarcos going out to find his father, Odysseus 10' s adventure on his way home, and the father and son joined hands to get rid of hooligans and reunite the whole family. Only in Joyce's works does Stephen lose his mother, despair of his father and leave home, which is like exile. Bloom is mediocre, useless and not heroic. Molly easy virtue, just muddle along and let nature take its course. Some critics believe that the role here is to make the modern bourgeoisie's "anti-hero" look more humble and insignificant than the ancient heroes. However, in Joyce's view, there may be no substantial difference between the two. Ulysses is a modern version of Odysseus. The so-called heroism, through the ages, is actually just a variety of lies.

Ulysses takes trivial matters of daily life as the theme of stream of consciousness, during which there is no heroic achievement. "No big things, no important people, no important thoughts." Joyce's modernity may be precisely reflected here. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, he had already proved through his practice of stream-of-consciousness novels that only daily life was the real field of artistic creation. Only the description of stream of consciousness can find the truth of life.

Ulysses uses mature and perfect stream-of-consciousness techniques. Stream of consciousness, that is, "uncensored, without rational control or logical arrangement", is a psychological activity that precedes the rational level and is a true record of free association. Joyce developed this skill vigorously, thus making a profound exploration of the ever-changing inner self of human beings. He directly shows the messy thoughts and feelings of the characters in the first person. What readers often see are memories, impressions and feelings, and thoughts are gathered into an erratic and unpredictable stream of consciousness through free association, which has unique artistic charm. Of course, stream of consciousness does not mean aimless thinking. In fact, Joyce's writing style is rigorous and clear-cut. Ulysses was revised eight times only in chapter 15 before it was finalized.

All the above features are concentrated in the last chapter of Joyce's book, which he thinks is the most attractive when he writes about the stream of consciousness in Molly's sleepy state.