Ulysses

Few would deny Ulysses' status as an "epic novel". In terms of its breadth of scope, the loftiness of its themes, the myriad of styles on offer, and, of course, its length, James Joyce's masterpiece is an epic by most definitions of the word. And yet, the events of Ulysses all take place over the course of a single day — June 16, 1904 — in a single city: Joyce's beloved hometown, the Irish capital of Dublin.

On a meandering, enriching, enlivening journey, Joyce takes us through some of the locations that make Dublin unique. But this is far from a simple travelogue. Ulysses is a dense and layered exploration of human engagement with the spaces we inhabit. Devotees of Joyce — and there are a great many of them — place Ulysses not simply near the top of the literary pile, but at its very summit. To truly understand the elegance and possibility represented by the Modernist literary movement in the early 20th century, Ulysses is a must-read. The book is described by some as the quintessential Modernist text — both the first and last word on the movement.