Sherry Chandler » Stately Plump
Stately Plump
Okay, here’s my first page of Altered Ulysses and I’ll admit it’s a pretty big mess. I’m going to have to get some better tools to work on this old crumbly paper. And probably I’m going to have to learn some patience in working with those tools. But I sorta like the browned look of the thing.
What excites me right now is the way the language works. I’ve found an entwined poem, with a sound theme for Buck Mulligan (”ou”) and another for Stephan Dedalus (”ee”):
Buck Mulligan
mounted the round gunrest
blessed gravely thrice the tower
the awaking mountains
Stephen Dedalus,
displeased and sleepy
leaned
looked coldly
soul and blood and ouns. Slow music, please.
One moment. A little trouble about
the loose folds of his gown,
sullen oval jowl
Stephen Dedalus
wearily halfway
watching him still
Looking at Joyce this way keeps me focussed on the language. When my son was admitted to the MFA program at Murray State, he was praised for his ability to develop narrative momentum. And that’s what I tend to look for in novels, some sort of moving plot. But oh my soul and whiskers can I possibly read Ulysses (or here) like an 800 page poem?
Of course, there is the original — it was a longish poem.
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