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Title: The death of literature
Review: With _Ulysses_, Joyce truly showed the world what a elitist egotist he was. Unfortunately, too many academics were entranced by occasional flourishes of vivid imagery to see this sham for what it was (and is): An intense act of laziness and hubris by a writer who had trouble telling stories. I think of _Ulysses_ as the precursor to all the self-indulgent pseudo-intellectual garbage that turned so many people off from reading "great literature" over the last 60 some odd years. However, the greatest tragedy comes from the fact that Joyce had talent in spades and showed it on occasion, such as with many of his short stories. If he would have tried to make _Ulysses_ even semi-comprehensible, it may indeed have been as great as some make it out to be. In the end, though, it's all just gibberish without a story to drive it.
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