ULYSSES

Except by the most dedicated scholars, much of James Joyce's masterpiece has been unreadable, in large part because it has been unhearable. But Irish actor Donal Donnelly and the people of Recorded Books have brought Ulysses to those of us who are only dimly able to hear Joyce's magnificent language through silent reading. Oral interpretation has rarely achieved such heights. In an almost maniacal homage to human consciousness as it interprets itself through the most inventive and poetic language imaginable, Joyce delivers us into the minds of the novel's often-comic hero, Leopold Bloom; his earthy wife, Molly; and intellectual son-surrogate, Stephen Daedalus, as all three experience a day of interaction with one another and with their rich Dublin world--June 16, 1904, to be exact (now known throughout the literary world as Bloomsday). It's obvious that Donnelly and the production and research staff of Recorded Books care about every word and sentence. Whether speaking Latin, French, Spanish, Greek, German, Hebrew, Italian, Gaelic, or biblical English, Donnelly maintains linguistic integrity without losing meaning. Miriam Healy-Louie, a lovely voiced Irish actress, performs with natural ease the traditionally daunting and famously obscene 45-page (and eight-sentence!), sleepy Molly Bloom soliloquy, which ends the novel. The pacing is perfect for literature of this density, with plenty of pauses to allow the wonderful language to do its work. Donnelly tirelessly performs dialects of all types; conveys the humor and satire so easily missed in relatively toneless silent reading; pushes through some of the most outrageously convoluted, elaborate and erudite sentences in the English language; breaks into all manner of song; and, all in all, celebrates with Joyce the joy of language. This oral interpretation opens up the inaccessible. P.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 96]