Ulysses upended all expectations of what literature should be, both in its inclusion of sexually explicit, intimate language, and in James Joyce’s refusal to use a consistent narrative form. Like an eye into the future, this difficult, all-consuming book still seems radical a century later. We continue our discussion with Kevin Birmingham, author of The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses (Penguin), to ask: what exactly made Ulysses so dangerous?
Read an excerpt from The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses.