Hello everyone, today we are going to share Chapter 1 of Ulysses. I looked at it, well, many people have already made a video about the writing style and historical status of "Ulysses", including Liang Wendao also made a video to say, the greatness of Ulysses, that about the historical status of Ulysses, the writing techniques, and the life of Joyce, I will not talk about the special topic, we will directly cut to the main topic, starting from the 1st chapter of Ulysses, talking about what the content of her 18 chapters is really talking about? There are a lot of things involved in the process of speaking, and we can add them at any time.
Ulysses is nearly a million words in its entire book, but his chapters are actually only 18. One of the great features of the book is that his 18 chapters contain nearly a million words, and they only talk about what happened to the three protagonists in the 18 hours from 8 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. on June 16, 1904. Each chapter corresponds to an hour. June 16, 1904, was chosen because it was the day of the first date of the first date of the writer James Joyce and his wife.
In addition, Ulysses's book has an intrinsic correspondence with Homer's epic Odysseus. Many people and things in the book have corresponding archetypes in James Joyce's real life. The book takes place in Dublin, the real-life capital of Ireland. It can be said that this book is the product of a combination of mythical archetypes and realistic archetypes.
Let's go straight to Chapter 1. Many people buy Ulysses' book and give up after seeing the first 4.5 natural paragraphs of the book. Because it feels like it's really as obscure and obscure as those reviews say. Leaving aside those so-called stream-of-consciousness writings, let's cut straight into the main text and see where the difficulty lies.
There are three main characters in this chapter, they are the Young Irish Medical Student, Berkmulligan, which we refer to as Mulligan.
Young Irish history teacher Stephen Didallers. We are hereinafter referred to as Stephen. Because Mulligan compared Stephen to a sharp blade, he nicknamed Stephen Jinchi to describe the sound of the blade cutting things. In addition to being roommates, Mulligan and Stephen are speculated to be cousins.
British, oxford-born, like Gaelic Haynes.
The time was 8 a.m. on June 16, 1904, in a circular turret that Stephen and Mulligan shared as an apartment. The tower is located in Sand Bay, a port area just outside Dublin, Ireland. It was one of the bunkers built along the Irish coast between 1803 and 1806 to prepare for the French invasion led by Napoleon.
At the beginning of the story, we see a full-spirited, strong-bodied person appear at the landing of the stairs. This man was Mulligan. He made an action that surprised many readers, and it was also an action that most readers found the book obscure. That's what the original text said. * He lifted the bowl high and chanted, I am going to the altar of the Lord, he stopped and glanced down the dim spiral staircase, and shouted in a rough voice, "Come up, your cowardly Jesuits"
It's because we, as Chinese readers, are less familiar with Catholic religious rituals. This place mulligan is actually imitating the actions of Catholic priests during Mass. The so-called Mass refers to the Ritual sacrifice in the Latin of the Catholic Church, Mass is a transliteration of the last sentence at the end of the Mass, which actually means "The ceremony is over, you leave." ”
In fact, Mulligan was not religious, and he used this imitation to ridicule religion. His roommate Stephen was also not religious and even resented religion. Later in the article we see Stephen refers to Mulligan as a happy traitor. When I read the character of Mulligan, one of the recurring characters in my mind was Lawrence, the eldest son of Mrs. Dreyer in the British drama "The Dreher Family", which is a somewhat mean, absurd, joking, grinning person. Stephen's personality is like the second son of the family, Leslie, sentimental and very sensitive. Therefore, if you have watched this British drama, if you correspond to these two characters, it is easier to accept the characters and behaviors in the text.
After Mulligan finished imitating the Mass movements, the second character in chapter 1, Stephen Didalles, one of the three protagonists of the book, appeared. What kind of image is Stephen? Stephen Didallus, written by Joyce, was angry and drowsy, leaning his arms against the railing of the stairs, staring coldly at the horse face that shook his head while cackling and wishing him well... * It was obvious that Stephen must have had something unhappy here, but Mulligan didn't care, and he continued to imitate the Mass ceremony in the process of shaving, while casually teasing, laughing from time to time, completely immersed in his own drama.
Stephen saw that Murry had no intention of stopping, so he asked, How long will Haynes stay here? This leads to the third character of this chapter, the Englishman Haynes. Stephen hated Haynes because Haynes was British, and partly because Haynes was sleeping the night before, he dreamed that he was going to shoot a panther, so when he was sleepwalking, he muttered some nonsense in his mouth and almost shot Stephen with a shotgun.
But Mulligan did not answer Stephen's words head-on, but only said some bad things about Haynes according to Stephen's wishes, and praised Stephen for being more literary than he was.
Stephen saw that Mulligan did not respond, so he repeated what had happened last night and said something a bit like a threat, saying that if he stayed here, then I would go. *
But Mulligan still did not respond, and he turned to Stephen to talk about the sea they were looking around at the top of the tower at this time, and Mulligan borrowed the English poet Charlie Algernon Swinberg's "great and lovely mother" to describe the sea in front of him, thus smoothly leading to the "death of Stephen's mother" that Mulligan wanted to talk about.
Mulligan used his aunt's words to condemn Stephen's fault over the death of Stephen's mother. He also said that his aunt would not allow himself to have any contact with Stephen. (The underlying line is a bit of a response to Stephen's earlier statement that Haynes would go without going on his own.) It means that you can go if you want. ）
We learn from Mulligan's next words. Before her death, Stephen's mother begged Him to kneel down in prayer for a religious ritual, but Stephen refused out of great antipathy to religion. Mulligan is therefore saying that Stephen *has an evil spirit*.
It is worth mentioning that the matter of Stephen and his mother here is the real thing that happened to James Joyce himself. Joyce himself was born into a Well-off Catholic family, and later his father was an alcoholic, Joyce gave up the Catholic faith, in 1902 Joyce left home to study medicine in Paris, in 1903 when his mother was critically ill he rushed back to Dublin, in front of the dying bed Joyce and his brother Stanilos, Joyce insisted on kneeling out of rebellion against the Catholic Church.
After talking about Stephen's evil spirit, probably realizing that his words had gone too far, Mulligan suddenly stopped his words. Instead, he teased Stephen as the cutest pantomime actor. And began to shave his face silently and intently. Stephen is a pantomime actor, first, because Stephen is introverted, but because he implicitly accuses him of refusing to kneel down and pray before his mother's death.
The incident that Mulligan brought up plunged Stephen into his own contemplation (stream of consciousness). His thoughts pushed him into his dreams after his mother's death. He dreamed of his mother coming to him, of the smell of his mother on her deathbed. When he looked out to sea, the bay formed a ring in the sky. In the early morning, there was some dark green sea, which reminded him of the green bile that his mother spat out in a white porcelain bowl before she died.
Mulligan tried to make up for the mistake of his own words. So he offered to give Stephen a pair of second-hand pants and praised Stephen for being handsome in one of his gray striped pants.
Stephen politely thanked him, but said he couldn't wear gray pants. (Presumably, it is an Irish tradition where relatives do not wear grey pants after they die.) Mulligan blamed Stephen in his heart, refusing to budge on the number of rituals he prayed before he died, but pretending not to wear gray pants.
Mulligan said that last night at a regular bar, a guy who worked in a mental hospital said Stephen had dementia generalized paralysis. Mulligan couldn't help but laugh. Continue to mock Stephen for saying he was an ugly "great poet." ”
Stephen looked at the mirror in front of Mulligan with a curved crack. I felt like I was in a daze.
Mulligan took the mirror and explained that the cracked mirror had come from his aunt's servant's house. And borrow Wilde's words to tease Stephen in this scene.
Mulligan's words reminded Stephen of Wilde, who in his collection of essays, Intention, said, "Life is an imitation of art." Life is actually a mirror, art is real? Stephenton was inspired by Wilde, who said that the symbol of Irish art was not just a cracked mirror for servants.
Therefore, although Mulligan grinned widely and lightly, he did not hide his jokes. But Stephen can always be inspired by him, and there are some subtle tacit understandings between the two.
Yet Mulligan once again diverted the conversation from the servant's mirror. Probably not wanting to wake up early in the morning to listen to Stephen's long talk about art and literature.
Mulligan took Stephen's arm, and the two walked around the top of the tower. Mulligan praised Stephen for actually having a backbone, and it was unfair to make fun of him like that. He also said that the remarks about the servant's mirror could be told to Haynes, and that perhaps the Englishmen who had started their fortune could give a few dollars when they were happy. Mulligan promised that Haynes would take care of him according to Oxford's approach if he tried to fool around. But at the same time, Mulligan blames Stephen, he admires Stephen the most, but Stephen does not trust himself enough.
Stephen finally made a concession. He said he agreed to let Haynes stay.
Mulligan perceives that Stephen's concessions are clearly just a sign that what makes Stephen really unhappy is not Haynes. So impatiently asked Stephen to make things clear.
Stephen pulled out his arm and said that mulligan had inadvertently said something to his family when his mother had just died.
"—you said so," and Stephen replied, Oh, it's just Didalus, whose mother died a disgusting death.
Burke Mulligan's cheeks suddenly flushed, making him look younger and more attractive.
- Did I say that? he asked. yes? So what's the obstacle?
Nervously, he shook his body and got rid of his own embarrassment. ”
Mulligan then began to argue for himself at length. He talked about himself as a medical student who sees death every day. Seeing a corpse in the dissection room with its stomach disemboweled is a very disgusting thing. That's why I blurted out words like that at the time. The conversation then turned to his accusations against Stephen. "You refused to grant her last wish, but you were angry with me because I wouldn't mourn like the funeral attendants paid for by la Luat Funeral Home. ridiculous! I must have said that before. But I have no intention of damaging your mother's reputation after her death. ”
Stephen struggled to quell the hurt he had done by Mulligan's sophistry. He said Mulligan had misunderstood. He was not thinking about the damage to his own mother, but to himself.
Mully spun around with his heels and shouted that Stephen was really hard! Then quickly walked away.
At this time, haynes called out to Mulligan's voice in the tower, and Mulligan responded and said to Stephen, look at the sea in front of you, what damage does it care about? Let's go down to breakfast together, and you don't have to worry about these chores all day. Moreover, this is entirely due to one's own inadvertent fault. This means that Stephen is too narrow-minded. Then Mulligan went down to the tower.
Stephen was alone at the top of the tower, looking at the sea in front of him and remembering again how his mother had opened the door when she was very ill, in order to hear Stephen's song. When I remembered sorting out my mother's belongings, I recalled that my mother had talked about my mother's girlhood. Remembering all that her mother had done for herself and her siblings and the dreams she had about her after she died.
Mulligan's call called Stephen back into the tower. Stephen, Mulligan, and Haynes dined in the tower as a living room. Stephen mentioned that he was paid today, and Mulligan proposed that everyone drink heavily today. During breakfast, the three of them chatted without a ride. During this time came an old woman who delivered milk, And Mulligan and Haynes chatted with the old woman. Stephen is engaged in self-mental activity. She looked down on Haynes's flirtation with gaelic, on Mulligan's usurpation of his sovereignty over the tower, and on the old woman's lowliness.
After breakfast Mulligan proposed to go for a morning swim. The three of them set off. Haynes asked Stephen about the servant's mirror and Hamlet's question in the dining room, but Mulligan interrupted Haynes's question, claiming that if he wanted to talk about it, Stephen would have to drink and talk. Haynes talked to Stephen about believers and said he didn't think Stephen was a believer. Stephen told Haynes on this issue that he was a typical example of free thought, and the two walked in a silent mini-game. Stephen thought to himself that Mulligan was trying to take the key to the tower away from him.
Mulligan first went to the seashore and met acquaintances. Haynes and Stephen were still chatting afterwards. Stephen said he was a slave to two masters, one in England, one in the Roman Catholic Church, and a third, Mulligan. Haynes's later words remind Stephen of the history of religion and the history of rebellion against religion.
Stephen says goodbye to Mulligan Haynes by the sea. He was going back to school, and as he expected, Mulligan asked him for the key to the tower. Mulligan shouted Stephen's name far away in a friendly voice. Stephen thought to himself that Mulligan was a snatcher.
Original: "A long, sweet voice called out to him from the sea." When he turned the corner, he waved his hand and called again. A silky, brown head, a seal's, far above the water, rolling round.
usurper. ”
This concludes chapter I. In this chapter, we basically don't read any thrilling storyline, but mainly explain to us the relationship between Stephen and Mulligan, their respective personalities. And the death of his mother, who haunted Stephen.
Some readers commented that when they read Ulysses later, they found that the book was not so difficult. Mainly because the obscurity of the first chapter caught people off guard and fought back.
Rather than reading it later, it feels easier, but rather that we have adapted to Ulysses' distinctive way of expression. His character dialogue is without quotation marks. His mental activity is spontaneous and does not give the reader any reminder. However, if we really integrate ourselves into the scenes and characters he describes. We will feel that James Joyce's description is more concise. It should not be seen as obscure stream-of-consciousness literature, but rather as a God perspective that even the monologue of the heart is subtitled.