Ulysses

Ulysses is a literary tour-de-force by one of Ireland's greatest ever writers. This stunning experimental novel tells the tale of a single day in the lives of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus - 16 June 1904. Through these characters, he paints a portrait of society in early 20th century Dublin. James Joyce draws heavily on Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, creating parallels between Bloom and Ulysses (Odysseus), Molly Bloom and Penelope (Ulysses' wife) and Stephen Daedalus and Telemarchus. Controversial when it was first released, Ulysses is now known as one of the most important works of modernist literature ever written. Eloquently written, extraordinarily ambitious and filled with literary allusions, Joyce's novel rightly deserves its place atop the pantheon of modern literature.