Gertrude Stein had this to say:
“Joyce is good. He is a good writer. People like him because he is incomprehensible and anybody can understand him. But who came first, Gertrude Stein or James Joyce? Do not forget that my first great book, Three Lives, was published in 1908. That was long before Ulysses. But Joyce has done something. His influence, however, is local. Like Synge, another Irish writer, he has had his day.”
Joyce was told Stein’s comment, and his response was: “I hate intellectual women.”
A few intellectual men could use a good beating too.
John – yeah, I read that – good Lord!!
What a whiny beeyotch tone he takes.
Like I said over on TinkertyTonk: to the Aussie wannabe intellectual from this emotionally immature American (even if I have an excuse because I’m a scientist): sod off.
John – Oh, and this might be of interest to you: somewhere in this long list of posts today is one from a Chinese translator – discussing the challenge of translating Ulysses into Chinese. The piece I posted has to do with how he handled the “problem” of Molly’s repetition of “yes” over and over in the last section of the book.
I thought it was a fascinating look into the world of language and translation.