Help in making it through the odyssey of ‘Ulysses’

  • Julie Muhlstein / Herald Columnist
  • Saturday, October 20, 2001 9:00pm
  • Local News

Cameron Johnson called it Mount Everest.

Roger Berger called it "a fantastic tour de force, breathtaking at times."

Judge John Woolsey, ruling in 1933 that the infamous novel was not pornographic, called it a "powerful commentary on the inner lives of men and women."

James Joyce called it "Ulysses."

The Irish author’s masterpiece is an 800-page journey through gritty Dublin. Poetic and mythic, humorous and blasphemous, the book’s intricate literary, biblical and classical references have given scholars entire careers.

Talking Joyce

Everett Community College instructor Roger Berger hosts free discussions on James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” once a month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Everett Public Library, 2702 Hoyt Ave. Sessions are Oct. 25, chapters 1-4; Nov. 29, chapters 5-8; Jan. 31, chapters 9-12; Feb. 28, chapters 13-18.

The story happens on one day — June 16, 1904. It happens to one man — the wistfully ordinary Leopold Bloom. (Remember that if you’re ever on "Jeopardy." When the category is literature, "Bloomsday" is not a Spokane footrace.)

So what happens? What’s the deal with dear, disgusting Bloom? How about his freewheeling wife, Molly, and Stephen Dedalus, the young man with whom Bloom’s path crosses all day?

Loving, eating, arguing, laughing, cheating, drinking, sorrowing, loving again — the mundane things of life happen.

Good luck figuring that out, though. Good luck doing it alone.

I’ve read it, I swear.

It took moving to rural Oregon 23 years ago, to a dusty town where you had to have cable TV. Too cheap to order cable, I bought "Ulysses" and the Cliffs Notes. Reading it took half a year.

I got it enough to say it’s a stream-of-consciousness — more like flood-of-consciousness — exploration of everyman. Obscene? I don’t think so. Whose every thought could stand up to publication?

I missed a lot in the book. I don’t think I quite realized how closely the chapters corresponded to the heroics of Odysseus (Ulysses) in "The Odyssey."

I needed Roger Berger.

An English instructor at Everett Community College, Berger is leading a series of free discussions on "Ulysses" this fall and winter at the Everett Public Library. The first four chapters will be covered from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

Berger is the hero of this story.

To me, it’s great news that nearly 20 people showed up for Berger’s introductory session last month. They aren’t getting college credit, and most aren’t academics.

Cameron Johnson, a reference librarian at the Everett Library, doesn’t read much fiction. Nevertheless, aided by Berger’s insights, he’s tackling Joyce.

He tried to read it once before.

"I’d gotten about two-thirds of the way through it. I did pretty well, but I got onto something else. I thought I’d get back to it someday, maybe when I get in some horrible accident and am put into traction," he quipped.

Now he’s spared the pain of going solo with "Ulysses."

"The language is brilliant. You laugh out loud, it’s so wonderful," Johnson said. "But Joyce gives you very little context. He doesn’t give you clues to early 20th century Dublin. It’s, ‘Hey, you figure it out.’ "

To Johnson, the book is "sort of like Mount Everest." That’s no place to go alone.

"I think people ought to stretch. And we can do it with a knowledgeable guide," Johnson said.

Berger, the librarian said, "has made a very generous commitment of his time. People should come if they’re even mildly interested — and if they’ve got a nice streak of masochism."

On Thursday, I sat in Berger’s classroom. He was teaching first-year college writing. The assignment was to pen a response to an essay students had read about technology.

Tall and heavyset, with dark hair and an engaging smile, Berger peppered them with questions.

"Can you have a real relationship with a machine?" he asked, reminding pupils that some folks treat cars with real affection. He was getting students to think about humanity.

I had expected someone who’d rather teach fine literary points to Ph.D. candidates. Instead, Berger clearly enjoyed the chance to turn bright young people on to new ways of thinking.

In the same way, he hopes to share a wondrous book with those beyond the ivory towers.

"The idea of teaching literature outside the university umbrella really appeals to me," said Berger, who did his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin. "We forget that books were not written to be put on a college syllabus."

Berger said it’s appropriate that people living everyday lives dive into Bloom’s world.

"Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ is really a blue-collar novel," Berger said. "That’s the Dublin he loved. It’s not that different a place from Everett in a lot of ways."

The difficulty comes partly because Bloom and friends are people of their time and place.

"Joyce expects us to know about things. In Everett, if you mention the Mariners or Paul Schell or Ed Hansen, people know about that. Fifty years from now, people won’t know it as well.

"Today, people’s minds are filled with songs and politics and sporting events. It’s frightening how Joyce could capture a world so much like our own.

"It’s difficult, obviously. You almost have to have read the book to read the book," Berger said.

And Berger has read it, more than 20 times.

"I want to urge people to come out," Johnson said. "Maybe they won’t get everything, but they can certainly admire the language. Nobody will laugh at them.

"With something like ‘Ulysses,’ we’re all kind of fools."

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