The Fellowship of Reason has been reading James Joyce’s Ulysses for a few years now. Last night we reached the half-way mark! We read and analyzed chapter 13, Nausicaa. There are 18 chapters, obviously of different lengths. We will be reading this work for about 1 1/2 more years. We can only do about 50 pages every two months. Five chapters and 400 pages remain.

Many have asked–we ask ourselves–why are we doing this? The answer is that Ulysses is one of the great novels of the 20th century.  If you have ever considered a great work of art, like Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Brueghel, you will notice that the subject matter of the work is enormous and there are many rich details. Each subsequent viewing rewards with new insight. The same is true of Ulysses.

In Ulysses we are presented with a mensch, a human being, Leopold Bloom. The boon (in mythological terms) of the adventure (in Joseph Campbell’s terms) of the novel and of reading the novel is the knowledge of a good man.

Join us. There is still time.