Header image with four cats and the text: Pussreboots, a book review nearly every day. Online since 1997
Now 2024 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA+ Artwork WIP

Recent posts

Month in review

Reviews:
Abramo's Gift by Donald Greco
American Rifle: A Biography by Alexander Rose
Birdsongs by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins
The Boy Who Sang for Others by Michael Meddor
Catamount by Marc Laidlaw
Changeling by Dean Whitlock
Cry of Justice by Jason Pratt
Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes
Does a Kanagroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle
An Elvish Sword of Great Antiquity by Jim Aikin
The Elephant Who Liked to Smash Small Cars by Jean Merrill
Fright Night Flight by Laura Krauss Melmed
The Gift of the Deer by Helen Hoover
The Guardian by Jeffrey Konvitz
Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
I Choose You by Tracey West
Legs Talk by D. E. Boone
Llamas in Pajamas by Teddy Slater
Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming
100 Years of California Cooking by Martha Lee
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems
Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale, Nathan Hale and Dean Hale
The Savage by David Almond and Dave McKean
Shadow of the Valley by Fred Chappell
Too Tall Alice by Barbara Worton
When Boston Won the World Series by Bob Ryan

Don Quixote:
Don Quixote: Judge a Book By Its Cover
Try to Remember
Divide and Conquer
Sancho's Big Score

Ulysses:
Episode 1 - Telemachus: Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy

Miscellaneous:
Don't Let the Pigeon Do an Interview

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Canadian Book Challenge: 2024-2025

Beat the Backlist 2024

Ozathon: 12/2023-01/2025

Artwork
Chicken Prints
Paintings and Postcards


Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Ulysses: Episode 1 - Telemachus: Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy: 02/28/09

I had so much fun with Don Quixote de La Mancha that I've decided to continue working through my to be read pile of door stoppers in the same fashion. Next on the list is a book I started ten years ago and put aside when my husband and I made the long move from southern California to northern California. New jobs and then new kids further got in the way of my commitment to reading Ulysses by James Joyce. Now the jobs are old and the kids are getting older and I have no more excuses!

Ulysses was serialized in The Little Review from 1918 to 1920 in eighteen episodes. The book as the title implies draws heavily from The Odyssey. The book though is set in Dublin and was inspired from ideas he had while writing The Dubliners. In terms of length it's about as long and as complex as Don Quixote and both books share a love of puns, parodies and allusions.

There are tons of resources available to help one get a conventional and well rounded understanding of this long and controversial novel. I don't plan to add to that. Instead, I will see where the book takes me and draw comparisons as inspiration hits. I will make one post for each episode with a summery review at the end.

Ed, Edd n EddySo the first episode opens at the morning at a converted Martello tower as Buck Mulligan, Stephen Dedalus (first seen in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and Haines are getting ready for the day. They talk about their mothers and gossip about stuff and swear and have breakfast:

"But hush. Not a word more on that subject. Kinch, wake up. Bread, butter, honey. Haines, come in. The grub is ready. Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts. Where's the sugar? O, jay, there's no milk." (p. 12)

From the start of breakfast the men mostly discuss their breakfast in increasing gross out terms. The conversation is silly, immature and hard to follow for its apparent randomness. I couldn't help but think of three pre-teens who at first seem interchangeable but do in fact have very separate personalities: Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy. Although none of Joyce's characters say "Buttered toast!" it would have fit perfectly if one of them had.

Where the Eds have their cul du sac, these three blokes have their tower. The entire first chapter as random as it first appears all takes place in and around the tower. Just as the cartoon has a limited cast and a fixed location, the first episode has only four characters plus a few who are mentioned but don't actually appear. Both trios are troubled by their parents but they are never seen to give their side of the story. Of course in Ulysses Stephen's mother is dead and the Eds's parents are all alive but forever off screen. Finally there is the rivalry between the three.

Eddy is the self declared leader of the group but Edd but it's been implied a few times that Edd (Double D) could take charge if he wanted to. The first episode ends with Stephen storming off in a huff calling Buck an usurper (23). Stephen's stomp through town though will the be impetus for the novel to move to the hero, Harold Bloom at the end of the third episode.

Next Saturday I'll discuss Episode Two: Nestor. If you want to read along, Ulysses is available online at Read Print. For more information about the novel, check out these wikipedia articles: Ulysses (novel), Telemachus, Stephen Dedalus, and Ed, Edd n Eddy. Also check out the Eds' website.

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:

Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2025 Sarah Sammis