Random Ulysses Podcasts

Season 1 for… Ulysses by James Joyce. The unabridged text, read by more than a hundred writers, artists, comedians and musicians

Season 2 for… Bloomcast. A deep-dive into the text with Adam Biles, Alice McCrum and Lex Paulson, as well as other bonus episodes.

To celebrate a hundred years since Sylvia Beach published James Joyce’s Ulysses, and to encourage readers to engage (or re-engage) with this spirited, funny, life-changing book, Shakespeare and Company, Paris—in partnership with Penguin Classics and Hay Festival—created an ensemble recording of the unabridged text, released as a free podcast between the centenary of the publication on 2nd February 2022 and Bloomsday on June 16 2022.

Read by more than a hundred writers, artists, comedians and musicians from all over the world— including Sally Rooney, Margaret Atwood, Stephen Fry, Pete Buttigieg, Kae Tempest, Ben Okri, Ali Smith, Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley and many, many more… (full cast list below)—Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses is a polyphonic and diverse celebration of this Modernist masterwork.

Conceived and produced by Adam Biles, Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company, Paris

Discover more about Shakespeare and Company here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com

Buy the Penguin Classics official partner edition of Ulysses here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/9780241552636/ulysses

Find out more about Hay Festival here: https://www.hayfestival.com/home

Featuring (in order):

Will Self

Jeanette Winterson

Paul Murray

Ishion Hutchinson

Caoilinn Hughes

Eddie Izzard

Lola Peploe

Nathan Englander

Joe Dunthorne

Kate Stables

Jarred McGinnis

Nicholson Baker

Richard Barnett

Amy Sackville

Chigozie Obioma

Erica Wagner

Patrick Marber

Claire-Louise Bennett

Aleksandar Hemon

Ryan Van Winkle

Cressida Brown

Holly Pester

Adam Thirlwell

Catherine Lacey

Ciaran Farrell

Lauren Elkin

Andrew Hankinson

Conor Horgan

Andy Miller

Preti Taneja

Salena Godden

Sinéad Gleeson

Luke Kennard

Sophie Gorman

Nicole Flattery

John Freeman

Aysegul Savas

Daniel Levin Becker

John Butler

John Mitchinson

Sigrid Rausing

Max Porter

Eimear McBride

Keith Ridgway

Philip Hoare

Deborah Landau

Karthika Nair

Cerys Matthews

DBC Pierre

Katharina Volckmer

Mark O’Connell

Marcel Theroux

Sylvia Whitman & David Delannet

Lenny Kaye

Sarah Churchwell

Olivia Laing

Katie Kitamura

Ali Smith

Keri Walsh

Lesley Blume

Patrick Hastings

Ben Okri

Colm Toibin

Chloe Aridjis

Stephen Fry

Douglas Stuart

Pete Buttigieg

Tara Mulholland

Paul Muldoon

S&Co Table Readers (Anne Bielec, Ben Brown, Amanda Dennis, Linda Fallon, Heather Heartley, Octavia Horgan, Conor Lee Bourke, Lex Paulson, Kate Poston, Francesca Reece)

David Keenan

Tom McCarthy

David Szalay

Jesse Ball

Carter Bays

James Gregor

Will Burns

Declan McCavana

Greg Proops

Jennifer Canada

Sam Jordison

Eloise Millar

Hollie McNish

Michael Pedersen

Jonathan Safran Foer

Sasha Foer

Ethan Hawke

Rob Doyle

Roisin Kiberd

Lucy Sante

Caitlinn O Keefe

Deborah Levy

Meena Kandasamy

Joanna Lumley

Susan Philipz

Sylvia Whitman

Bonnie Greer

Emilie Pine

Margaret Atwood

Kae Tempest

Lou Doillon

Sally Rooney

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Categories: Arts, Fiction, History

Tags: audiobook, dublin, ireland, Joyce, Literature, modernism, paris, ulysses

Banned in the United States and United Kingdom throughout the 1920s, Ulysses turned conventional ideas of the novel inside out with its bold new form, style and theme. Deeply rooted in the Greek myth of the hero of the Trojan War, Joyce bases his novel on Ulysses or Odysseus, who is doomed to voyage for ten years before returning home to Ithaca. Joyce had been deeply influenced by the Iliad and the Odyssey, which he had read from Charles Lamb’s adaptations as a child. In fact, he considered him the epitome of the heroic ideal and constantly thought of giving the myth a new dimension in modern literature. However, the reader must be cautioned that it is not an easy book to read. It was also burdened by a strange and complicated publication history. Joyce’s original handwritten manuscript was typed by a number of less than competent typists who made a series of grammatical and spelling errors, leading to great confusion. It went through 18 different versions, each of which was full of more and more mistakes. Attempts to “correct” the text were being made as late as 2010 but the appeal of the book lies in its overall theme and in its rich symbolism. Ulysses is divided into 18 chapters, or episodes, each one referring to a Homeric character or episode in the Greek myth. Though Joyce did not originally title the chapters, he did refer to them by such names in private letters to his friends. He also gave them obscure titles from his researches in French translations of the Homeric sagas. Joyce himself understood the significance of his work. He is reputed to have remarked to the effect that he had stuffed the book with so many enigmas and puzzles that it would keep academicians buzzing for centuries! The names of each character are rooted in the deep symbolism and every episode sets the reader harking back to the Homeric myths. Apart from Greek legend, Joyce also used aspects of Celtic traditions of storytelling. Essentially, the plot deals with many ideas that have found echoes throughout human history. Paternity, the idea of the everyday hero, regret and personal conscience, the paradox of individual perspectives all conveyed through a plethora of symbols and motifs makes Ulysses a compelling if difficult read. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: art, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, james joyce, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Psychology, ulysses