Introduction: “O, Rocks…. Tell Us in Plain Words”

Abstract

This study is for readers of Ulysses. It attempts to comment on the major issues confronting a reader as he tries to make sense of the novel. In the title of my Introduction, I playfully use Molly’s response to Bloom’s explanation of metempsychosis (“O, rocks!… Tell us in plain words”) to indicate that Ulysses is a readable novel — rather than an elaborate puzzle or a Rosetta Stone or a hieroglyph. For Ulysses, while presenting unique challenges, depends upon readers who have a good deal of reading experience in more traditional narratives.