Madam, - Eileen Battersby (Weekend Review, October 18th) perpetuates the facile dismissal of Ulysses, popular since Kavanagh's Who Killed James Joyce?: that its success is merely the result of an academic industry which profits by its propagation. This criticism overlooks the qualities of innovation, learning and encyclopaedic literary achievement in Ulysses which draw scholars to the book in the first place.
Nor does it acknowledge the fact that most Joycean academics are, in my experience, friendly and approachable human beings and enthusiasts for the book, who are no more or less or burdened with the excesses of ego or ambition than your average journalist or published poet.
I was genuinely surprised to see Ms Battersby belittle Ulysses as "mean-minded". It is in fact the opposite, and as one of the most generous of modern novels it seeks to expose lack of human sympathy not by authorial judgements but by showing characters betrayed by their own chauvinism or anti-Semitism. At the heart of the book are the Blooms, Leopold and Molly, both of whom are depicted as flawed but sympathetic people, whose thoughts and feelings are portrayed through distinctly human voices with unusual candour and insight.
A word to readers and would-be readers of Joyce: don't be put off either by Joyce's excellence or by those who are fashionably dismissive of his writing, however eminent they may be as writers or critical commentators. Ulysses is a fascinating portrayal of Dublin and Dubliners which, in reflecting Joyce's intricate recreation of his native city, reverberates far beyond the shores of Ireland.
Ulysses is funny, enjoyable and accessible and its number one ranking in your list should encourage people to experience the pleasure of reading it and rereading it. It is an exceptional book about everyday experience for ordinary readers, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL O'HANRAHAN, Oliver Plunkett Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.