Yeah, TWL was hard to get through. I understand that Ezra Pound had a fit when asked by his former protege to edit it. I’m more forgiving of it though because it is poetry, and serves a different purpose from the novel. Besides, I like Eliot’s essays. :)

I’ve never heard of “The Anathematha” though.

I like Eliot a lot, too.

And also: although not a great poetry reader, I can’t help but enjoy T.S. Eliot. For whatever reason, words he writes make perfect sense to me.

Well–longest, anyway. :)

Interesting that both “Ulysses” and “The Waste Land” were published in the same year. I know some people who think of TWL, in the field of poetry, in a similar way.

If anyone is still reading these comments, I’d be interested to hear reactions to David Jones’ book-length poem “The Anathemata” from anyone who has read it, or tried to read it. (Again, I will say up front that I thought it was brilliant, but I understand contrary reactions. It is also one of those works which do not seem to be “translatable” into anything but English.)

I’m happy you understood both of those works and found something to love about them, but I still stand by my assertion that Joyce’s writing style (along with stream of consciousness writing in general) is modernist literature’s biggest middle finger to the normal reader.

Furthermore, its not the Irishness that made Joyce inaccessible for me. Dostoevsky was very Russian, but at no point did I feel like an idiot reading Crime and Punishment. I can live with not getting a cultural reference. What I can’t stand is a novel that makes me feel like I’m illiterate.

Can’t argue with greatness.