Hi, he seems to divide most into love or hate categories, but I was wondering what Bukowski fans think of James Joyce?...a great writer? or plain over-rated?
I got thinking about Joyce right now, after working my way through War all the Time which came in the post today...in the poem The Last Generation he name checks Joyce. Admittedly he mentioned dozens of other writers, so I don't know whether he was a fan or not? or perhaps just acknowledges his status as a writer (didn't think so initially - not that it really matters anyhow)
Myself, I read The Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young man (this actually reminded me of Fante at points - in style and theme) about two years ago and enjoyed them a lot. Well, late last year I finally started Ulysses and have finished it recently...wow, that was something else. He sure was one eccentric guy (verging of genius, pure insanity and often somewhere in between). It was a bizarre but highly captivating reading experience, which had me hooked pretty early on - once I got the gist of what he was trying to do. I've gotta say that a few of the chapters I almost felt like giving up and throwing the huge godamn brick of a book out the window - but the good parts were greatly rewarding and worth sticking for. In particular I enjoyed his quirky, often profane sense of humour and his sharp observational mind.
Well, I'm just about to watch the movie interpretation. I am interested to see how it the puts Joyces idea across on film.
I got thinking about Joyce right now, after working my way through War all the Time which came in the post today...in the poem The Last Generation he name checks Joyce. Admittedly he mentioned dozens of other writers, so I don't know whether he was a fan or not? or perhaps just acknowledges his status as a writer (didn't think so initially - not that it really matters anyhow)
Myself, I read The Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young man (this actually reminded me of Fante at points - in style and theme) about two years ago and enjoyed them a lot. Well, late last year I finally started Ulysses and have finished it recently...wow, that was something else. He sure was one eccentric guy (verging of genius, pure insanity and often somewhere in between). It was a bizarre but highly captivating reading experience, which had me hooked pretty early on - once I got the gist of what he was trying to do. I've gotta say that a few of the chapters I almost felt like giving up and throwing the huge godamn brick of a book out the window - but the good parts were greatly rewarding and worth sticking for. In particular I enjoyed his quirky, often profane sense of humour and his sharp observational mind.
Well, I'm just about to watch the movie interpretation. I am interested to see how it the puts Joyces idea across on film.