Leaves of Grass
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Reading and Writing Workshop
Reading & Writing Through Ulysses
Author Focus: James Joyce
Session 1: The Odyssey Reimagined – Joyce and Homer
Focus: Understanding how Ulysses reworks Homer’s The Odyssey.
Session 2: Stream of Consciousness – A New Literary Style
Focus: Explore Joyce’s narrative technique and compare it to early stream-of-consciousness writing.
Session 3: Language, Identity, and Dublin
Focus: Dublin as a character, and language as identity.
Session 4: Censorship and Banning of Ulysses
Focus: Why Ulysses was banned, the obscenity trial, and the evolution of literary freedom.
Session 5: The Ordinary as Epic – A Day in the Life
Focus: How Joyce turns the mundane into the monumental.
Session 6: Reading Ulysses – An Excerpt and Close Analysis
Focus: Reading an excerpt from Ulysses and practicing close reading.
Author Focus: James Joyce
Session 1: The Odyssey Reimagined – Joyce and Homer
Focus: Understanding how Ulysses reworks Homer’s The Odyssey.
- Read (Public Domain):
Homer, The Odyssey (translated by Samuel Butler)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727 - Discuss: How does Joyce reimagine Odysseus in Leopold Bloom? Compare the journeys.
- Write: Compose a short narrative that mirrors a mythic journey in a modern setting.
Session 2: Stream of Consciousness – A New Literary Style
Focus: Explore Joyce’s narrative technique and compare it to early stream-of-consciousness writing.
- Read (Public Domain):
Edouard Dujardin, Les Lauriers sont coupés (translated as The Laurels are Cut)
https://archive.org/details/laurelsarecutnov00duja - Discuss: How did Dujardin influence Joyce? How does stream of consciousness shape character?
- Write: Try writing a short story or a journal entry using the stream-of-consciousness style.
Session 3: Language, Identity, and Dublin
Focus: Dublin as a character, and language as identity.
- Read (Public Domain):
James Joyce, Dubliners (1914)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2814 - Discuss: What aspects of Irish identity and urban life are explored? How do they reappear in Ulysses?
- Write: Describe a day in your city or neighborhood in the style of Dubliners or Ulysses.
Session 4: Censorship and Banning of Ulysses
Focus: Why Ulysses was banned, the obscenity trial, and the evolution of literary freedom.
- Read (Public Domain):
The United States v. One Book Called "Ulysses", District Court opinion by Judge John M. Woolsey (1933)
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/5/182/2004265/ - Discuss: What were the arguments for banning it? Why did the judge rule in its favor?
- Write: Write an editorial arguing for or against censorship of literature.
Session 5: The Ordinary as Epic – A Day in the Life
Focus: How Joyce turns the mundane into the monumental.
- Read (Public Domain):
Virginia Woolf, Monday or Tuesday (1921)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59720 - Discuss: How do Woolf and Joyce elevate the ordinary? What literary tools do they use?
- Write: Write a “day in the life” short story that turns the everyday into something epic.
Session 6: Reading Ulysses – An Excerpt and Close Analysis
Focus: Reading an excerpt from Ulysses and practicing close reading.
- Read (Public Domain):
James Joyce, Ulysses (1922 Paris edition – public domain in the U.S.)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300 - Excerpt Focus: “Proteus” or “Penelope” episode (students may choose).
- Discuss: Themes of identity, consciousness, body, or language in the selected passage.
- Write: Close reading response: What stands out and why? What questions does the passage raise?