The first reading of "Ulysses" started with the widely circulated saying that not 10 people out of 100 can finish reading "Ulysses".

"Ulysses" is a work by the famous Irish modernist novelist Joyce. Joyce studied modern linguistics at University College Dublin and later went to the European continent. Joyce's first collection of short stories was "Dublins", and later he wrote the autobiographical novella "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man".

I think the literary world’s evaluation of “Ulysses” is like two magnetic poles. Some reviews have elevated the value of "Ulysses" very high, saying it is "a masterpiece"; other reviews have downgraded it, saying it is "vulgar and unsightly."

And I have always looked at "Ulysses" with an attitude of worship. It is a work that can very well show my literary skills. "Ulysses" has one million words, but it only describes eighteen hours of events. I can't imagine what kind of observation and imagination the author needs to write such a unique work. However, there are not many characters in the book, there are only three main characters: Bloom, Stephen and Molly.

The success of "Ulysses" lies in its detailed portrayal of the characters' hearts. Joyce used his amazing literary skills to describe the activities of three characters over eighteen hours in one million words. Although "Ulysses" is huge in length, there is no unnecessary detail. Joyce uses his understanding and delicate insight into life and life to describe the protagonist's actions, language and subtle psychological changes. The description of inner activities in "Ulysses" is superb, and every subtle thought change of the three protagonists is clearly and truly presented to the reader. For example, in the third chapter of "Ulysses", Joyce spends an entire chapter describing Joyce's psychological activities.

The first protagonist of "Ulysses", Bloom, is a Hungarian Jew who works as an advertising salesman in a Dublin newspaper. The value of the image of Bloom transcends the inherent identity. Joyce used his profound social experience and solid literary skills to focus thousands of Irish citizens on Bloom. Bloom's experience and temperament also belong to many Irish citizens.

Bloom's life has gone through many vicissitudes. His youngest son died in infancy and his wife was unfaithful. He often deceived himself and struggled in a love that existed in name only. Bloom has achieved nothing in middle age. Facing Molly, whose salary is several times higher than his own, he has low self-esteem and lacks confidence. But Bloom, on the other hand, prides himself on being aloof and does not even want to dine in a restaurant with customers who are not good-looking. Bloom is enthusiastic and narrowly focused on helping the drunken Stephen. But on the other hand, he also had greedy and petty desires, and even tried to bully a disabled girl on the beach.

Bloom is depressed, hesitant and full of contradictions. He is confused about reality but full of hope, helpless but looking forward to miracles. Bloom lost his spiritual support and enterprising purpose, and his life and career suffered a heavy blow. Bloom's decadence reflects the loneliness, confusion and despair of Irish citizens in the early twentieth century.

Joyce condensed all his sixteen years of understanding of life and society into "Ulysses". At the same time, it is a work whose value transcends social reality and rises To the depth of philosophy.

"The Odyssey" is famous all over the world and is recognized as a great epic in human history. As for Joyce, he wrote "The Odyssey" with a contemporary theme with extraordinary understanding. The content of each chapter of "Ulysses" adopts a structure parallel to that of "The Odyssey". Joyce's originality and clever conception make the structure and meaning of the entire "Ulysses" similar to that of "The Odyssey". "The Odyssey" corresponds to it. Joyce reflects on modern life from the depth of an epic poem and gives "Ulysses" philosophical connotation.

When a writer's literary skills reach a certain level, his works will often be infiltrated into philosophy, such as "A Dream of Red Mansions". The classic sayings in "Dream of Red Mansions" are: "What is fake is also fake when it is true, there is nothing to do but nothing to do" and "Naked people come and go without worries", and "Like eating birds, each throwing itself into the forest, leaving a vast white land." So clean." These are the author's philosophical thoughts on life and the world.

Joyce and Cao Xueqin also raised their perceptual understanding of society to rational thinking. The reason why "Ulysses" and "A Dream of Red Mansions" are two novels and not just novels is also in the process of this.

Cao Xueqin's "A Dream of Red Mansions" is "every word seems to be made of blood, ten years of hard work is unusual", while Joyce's "Ulysses" took sixteen years to conceive and observe, and seven years to complete. Years of monograph writing. However, the more national culture is, it is often difficult to be world culture. From this perspective, "Ulysses" and "Dream of Red Mansions" have similar sadness.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is undoubtedly a great work that has reached its pinnacle. Cao Xueqin's integration of Chinese classical culture in "A Dream of Red Mansions" has reached the level of embracing all rivers.

Although "A Dream of Red Mansions" is just a novel, it contains almost all the essence of Chinese classical culture: poems, rhymes, music, couplets, riddles, eight-part essays, invitations, memorials, memorials, letters, recipes, bills, prescriptions, divination, Astrology, `````"A Dream of Red Mansions" is recognized by the world as the highest peak of Chinese classical works. Senior Er Yuehe said when commenting on "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The achievements of "A Dream of Red Mansions" are not only unprecedented, in a sense , it is also unprecedented. ”

But it is in line with the principle that everything must be reversed. Although such a great masterpiece is recognized by the world, it is not loved by the world. It is true that "A Dream of Red Mansions" ranks eighth on the world book list, surpassing a large number of world-famous works in Europe and the United States. However, like most national cultural classics, "A Dream of Red Mansions" has not become a universal culture in the world.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" has been translated into dozens of languages ????and distributed in various countries around the world. There are also Red Studies Research Societies in European and American countries. However, a female reporter in the United States once said bluntly that she has more friends around her. The reason why I regard "Dream of Red Mansions" as a must-read is not because I like it. Survey reports in Western Europe also clearly show that "A Dream of Red Mansions" is far less popular among the people than "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "The Legend of the Gods", and even "The Plum in the Golden Ping". A Dream of Red Mansions abroad is more often viewed by intellectuals as a masterpiece.

Ulysses was published on February 2, 1922. It was the result of Joyce's sixteen years of conception and seven years of writing. However, after its publication, it was banned from being distributed in Britain and the United States for a long time. , was not put back into circulation until 1933.

"Ulysses" was also not accepted by the world after its publication. It caused huge controversy in the literary world after it was released. Virginia Woolf denounced the book as "obscenely vulgar," and some writers at the time even unceremoniously returned signed copies of Joyce. Only a few discerning writers such as Eliot realized the value of "Ulysses" and tried their best to defend it. When Tsinghua University decided to list "Ulysses" as required reading, it also aroused a lot of opposition from the educational and literary circles.

Every time I think about this, I can’t help but sigh. "Ulysses" can be a world famous book, or a masterpiece, but it is difficult to be popular among readers all over the world.

Joyce and Cao Xueqin wrote two such works - "Ulysses" and "A Dream of Red Mansions". Is this their greatness or their sorrow ``````

This work ranked first in the 20th century novel category as voted by global readers in 1998.