Back at RPI, I was an oddball. While all my classmates were doing minors in Management or Psychology, I minored in Literature. I figured that once I was out of college, my chances to take Lit classes were going to diminish rather sharply. My classmates in Computer Science and Engineering programs never understood my choice, but I have never regretted the decision.
During that time, as part of coursework, i read
Portrait of the Artist and parts of _Finnegan's Wake_, but never read the most famous of Joyce's works. Given that I've had a copy on the shelf for um, decades, it seemed unlikely that i ever would.
But couple of weeks ago, I saw a
note on
Roger Ebert's twitter feed recommending an abridged audiobook version. A quick trip to the Upper Hudson Library System website revealed a copy in the Melrose Public Library, so I requested it.
Hearing it read, by people who know how to do it, makes all the difference in the world. Joyce is about language, cadence, meter and rhythm. He delights in the sound of language. The audiobook brings this out, it is beautifully executed. What I frequently found is that I would get lost in the sound, the rhythms, realize that I no longer knew what was going on, and have to go back to establish where I was in the plot (such as it is.) But this was ok, it meant that I got to listen to those sounds again.
I'm nearly done with the audiobook, I'll probably fhinish it in the car tomorrow. Feeling inspired, I found the copy of the book i bought 30 years ago and never read, and brought it up from the basement Maybe this time I'll actually read it. Hope springs eternal and all that.
