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I'd like to think I'm not a moron, and I too had no idea what the fuck Joyce was trying to say. Granted, I gave up after only fifty or so pages, but I still don't get it. The regular parts of the story were quite boring. I'm all for vague symbolism, but I just couldn't connect much of what he was saying during the "stream of consiousness" parts. Reading Ulysses was alot like tripsitting for someone on acid: sure, what they have to say is important and significant, but only to his or herself, and maybe a few people in a similar condition.
I noticed there wasn't any Stephen King, or Steakley, or, once again, Tolstoy. I think in America there's a tendency to label certain books as "classics" and then push them onto other people. A good example is the LotR trilogy. The Hobbit was good as a twelve year old, but as a highschooler the trilogy itself was boring as hell. It lacked the same charisma and enchantment of the Hobbit, and was filled with plot holes.
Basically the longest books with the most challenging words are the best books. Who gives a shit about plot or catharsis when you can just as easily write something long, dry, and filled with lesser-known words in an unorthodox way?
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Free will lies not in the ability to craft your own fate, but in not knowing what your fate is. --Me
"I have just returned from visting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world." --Douglas MacArthur
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