James Joyce’s Ulysses

Post-screening discussion with director Adam Low

Ulysses, the experimental novel by Irish writer James Joyce first published in 1922, misunderstood by many, and initially banned in the U.S. for obscenity, is regarded as one of the most groundbreaking, game-changing books ever written. It’s also, according to British journalist and novelist Howard Jacobson, “the greatest Jewish novel of the 20th century—the first one with a Jew at its very center”: Leopold Bloom. Adam Low’s engaging documentary, made on the centennial of Ulysses’s publication in Paris, plumbs the depths of this monumental work of literature—its meaning, its beauty and controversies, its explicitness and daring language, and the story of how a group of intrepid book lovers made sure it was published at all, including Sylvia Beach, who published the first edition from her Paris bookshop, and a lesbian couple who risked imprisonment for printing obscenity. A film that champions art and the people who encourage, create, and protect it, Low’s documentary testifies to the longevity of a masterpiece that still has the capacity to jolt readers to this day.