a) like what? All that stream-of-consciousness stuff so that it is often difficult to figure out who is thinking/talking; sidesteps into...a sort of verse--with no explanation. I have followed Bloom through a funeral, many streets and encounters, and still have no idea who he is in relation to the characters who first appeared. And when he was in a pub, suddenly Stephen was there--I went back several times to preceding pages but could not find where he entered or was espied by anyone; he just starts talking. That kind of thing. Er--although I recall little about The Odyssey, I can comprehend that what happens in this book is supposed to be something of a parallel to it. But why did Mr. Joyce choose to do it by people thinking--with a little conversation thrown in--rather than the more typical story-telling fashion? Was he being, or trying to be, clever? Was he drunk or mentally ill? Did he just want to do somthing different?

Thanks for the link. I shall certainly not loiter over Ch. 12! This chapter is narrated largely by an unnamed denizen of Dublin...The chapter is marked by extended digressions made outside the voice of the unnamed narrator: hyperboles of legal jargon, Biblical passages, Irish mythology, etc., with lists of names often extending half a page. Without even having seen a word of this chapter, I ask again: why would anyone write like that as part of a book?