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Title: The most important book of the twentieth century
Review: One cannot stress the importance of Ulysses. As a book, it almost defies explanation, such is it's achievement, in that it seems to be a story a story of so very little, yet with the importance of Odyssean epic. It's hard to explain. The thing about Ulysses is that it's sheer inventiveness will capture you. Joyce not only places you in the scene via description, the very words he uses become the description themselves, in the shape and texture of them. The book is also a library of allusions, but they can be taken as they are, or decoded within the book itself. There has never been a book quite like it before or since, and it is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the twentieth century's malaise. It addresses not only the development of Ireland, but the development of man, and predicts the trends of the next hundred years effectively.
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