Joyce's Ulysses : Philosophical Perspectives

Ulysses is a famously difficult book. Philosophy is well-known as an abstruse subject. Yet thinking about Joyce''s great novel in philosophical ways not only provides new approaches for seasoned Joyceans, but also orientation for those perplexed by Ulysses. Six eminent scholars, philosophers, and literary critics combine philosophical and literary analysis to present accessible and fresh perspectives on one of the world''s literary masterpieces.

Though James Joyce was steeped in philosophy and humanism, he has received too little attention from contemporary philosophers in comparison to many of the other titans of modernist fiction. This book probes the possibilities for thinking philosophically about Joyce''s masterpiece, Ulysses, presenting readings by renowned scholars such David Hills, Garry L. Hagberg, Vicki Mahaffey, Martha C. Nussbaum, Sam Slote, Wendy J. Truran, and Philip Kitcher, who also provides an introduction to the volume that considers broader themes and situates Ulysses as a work of philosophical interest. For the central characters of Ulysses--Leopold Bloom, Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus, "How to live?" is an urgent question. Each must either start anew, or attempt to recover lost paths. Chapters plumb the depths of the philosophical quandaries that present themselves to these characters--reflections on death and overcoming disgust, Leopold Bloom''s evocations of conscious thought, the dominance of vision in our thinking about the senses, identity, and the possibility of revising one''s values are only a handful of the subjects covered in the volume. Ulysses is an intrinsically and deeply philosophical work, and these readings provide new inroads and firm orientation for Joyce''s project. Readers will come away with renewed appreciation for one of our greatest works of literature in the English language, and deepened understanding of Joyce''s attempt to offer alternative ways of structuring and enriching the world of our experience.