I'll forgive you. In regards to Joyce, I found his 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' accessible and thought it had some lovely passages; I'm not sure if you gave his other works a read.
The excerpt was too long to paste in a comment, but I've added one of my favourite excerpts from 'A Portrait' as reference here: https://literaturegirl.neocities.org/stream
I have never doubted that Joyce was a genius. For sure, he was. I have just never been able to enjoy the "stream-of-consciousness" stuff written by Joyce and Faulkner. It's just a matter of taste. I have heard that Portrait is accessible. Haven't read it, though. Bucket list?
I was never able to get into Faulkner either, and I must admit I only tend to truly enjoy Joyce's stream of consciousness style in particular excerpts like the one I shared. Sometimes it works; on the whole, though, things become muddy, mundane, or anticlimactic. I think Dazai's 'Schoolgirl' is a rather nice (and very short) stream of consciousness example, but it definitely has the same mundane feeling.
I suppose my all-time favorite would be Tolkien's LotR. I've always liked the heroic fantasy genre, even the myths. Correct me if I'm wrong...the Irish are supposed to stand up for Joyce the way we Americans are supposed to stand up for Hemingway. Right? Anyway, these days I'm reading non-fiction: articles, essays, opinion pieces, sermons, that kind of thing. I can't multi-task the way I used to. Gotta keep it short.
I defend Lewis that way; I find not many Irish people I encounter have actually read much of Joyce. We're staunchly proud of Lewis here in the north, though. Even the other Catholics at my parish love him for his writings on and respect for the Blessed Sacrament, despite his lack of conversion from Anglicanism. I've heard many people profess he helps to bring Protestants closer to true reverence for the Eucharist.
I'll forgive you. In regards to Joyce, I found his 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' accessible and thought it had some lovely passages; I'm not sure if you gave his other works a read.
The excerpt was too long to paste in a comment, but I've added one of my favourite excerpts from 'A Portrait' as reference here: https://literaturegirl.neocities.org/stream
I have never doubted that Joyce was a genius. For sure, he was. I have just never been able to enjoy the "stream-of-consciousness" stuff written by Joyce and Faulkner. It's just a matter of taste. I have heard that Portrait is accessible. Haven't read it, though. Bucket list?
I was never able to get into Faulkner either, and I must admit I only tend to truly enjoy Joyce's stream of consciousness style in particular excerpts like the one I shared. Sometimes it works; on the whole, though, things become muddy, mundane, or anticlimactic. I think Dazai's 'Schoolgirl' is a rather nice (and very short) stream of consciousness example, but it definitely has the same mundane feeling.
I suppose that's what makes it beautiful for some people, though. Do you have a favourite author or book?
I suppose my all-time favorite would be Tolkien's LotR. I've always liked the heroic fantasy genre, even the myths. Correct me if I'm wrong...the Irish are supposed to stand up for Joyce the way we Americans are supposed to stand up for Hemingway. Right? Anyway, these days I'm reading non-fiction: articles, essays, opinion pieces, sermons, that kind of thing. I can't multi-task the way I used to. Gotta keep it short.
I defend Lewis that way; I find not many Irish people I encounter have actually read much of Joyce. We're staunchly proud of Lewis here in the north, though. Even the other Catholics at my parish love him for his writings on and respect for the Blessed Sacrament, despite his lack of conversion from Anglicanism. I've heard many people profess he helps to bring Protestants closer to true reverence for the Eucharist.