Fabulous Voyager.

New York, NY The Viking Pr: Compass , 1959. Paperback First Edition Thus [1959], Second Printing [1966]. Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of wear to extremities; mildest rubbing; the price has been blocked out at the lower corners of both panels. The binding square and secure; text clean. The pages are bright; the binding is tight. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 297pp. First Edition Thus [1959], Second Printing [1966]. Trade Paperback. This book first published in 1947 and updated for the paperback in 1959 is an introductory guide to Joyce's masterpiece 'Ulysses'. While praising Gilbert Stuart's pioneering analysis of 'Ulysses' which detailed the parallels between it and Homer's 'Odyssey'. Kain criticizes it for being too schematic. He believes that many of the themes Stuart associates with a particular chapter actually run through the whole of the work. Kain gives special focus to one of the three major characters of Ulysses, Leopold Bloom and devotes a special appendix to what he calls the most well- described character in Literature. Kain is unusual in his Criticism in that he does not focus so much on the aesthetic brilliance, the stylistic innovation of the book. He argues that the book is first of all a critique of modern culture and society, a satirical and comical work of unprecedented dimension. He defends Joyce against the common criticisms of him as dirty- minded, cold, detached in feeling, inhumane. I am not sure that he is right in this analysis of the revolutionary Joyce. I more tend to agree with the focus on the unparalled aesthetic innovativeness of the work. This is an important work of Joyce criticism and very readable still today.