>Once upon a time and a very good time it wasdropped
>>25193853What you have against moocow and tuckoo?
>...upon all the living and THE DEAD.are you fucking kidding me?
>it was the best of times; it was the worse of times.
>I say we double jannies salary
>>25193853It's not as if it is meant to be the formal introduction to the narrative, it's a sweet and funny sentence of a story that his Father would tell him. I think it's very endearing. It works well, and functions for many first time readers to subvert their expectations, the idea going into Joyce that he is going to be performing tricks, that he will present you with an incredibly dense text with constant allusions to other works and Irish history, playing with language, dripping with conceit and pretensionnonly to begin with a light-hearted and infantile nursery story told to a little boy by his Father. Evoking hazy memories of the reader's own early years and the strangeness of infancy and memory. Ultimately, Portrait is very emotionally insightful and resonant, particularly for those who were thoughtful, observant, and sensitive as young boys. The associations Dedalus has with his senses, with stimuli, are incredibly well written, and more accurately than much writing portray the way thought and emotion are experienced from within. Stephen's experiences with attempting to parse the confusing, overwhelming nature of the world, of his peers, family, teachers, clergy, and reconcile them with the way he feels is so expertly presented, as to make the reader feel as if he lives within Stephen's head, one with his thoughts and feelings. Of course Ulysses is the more impressive work, and is so incredibly rewarding provided that you are familiar with even the handful of necessary prerequisite texts to provide you with an understanding of the intertextual allusions, and provided that you are genuinely interested in the work and what it seeks to do. But Portrait is wonderful in that feels honest, it feels alive, and it feels timeless.
>>25194192Ulysses also starts in a somewhat traditional fashion itself which feels like a sort of parody of opening chapters. FW doesn’t even open, you’re just there already
>>25194126I'd go so far as to offer triple the amount
>>25194192I agree, but Stephen’s most well written and introspective moments come in Ulysses. Proteus feels like such a step up from Portrait it’s quite frightening. My personal favourite Stephen moment is in Scylla, he’s arguing as though he’s trying to protect something most dear to him, that is, his art, through analysing Shakespeare’s relationship with his son; and you feel his indignation at Mulligan’s sudden appearance despite his silence, in a literal sense and his thoughts.
>>25193853Perhaps Modernism isn't for you.
