What did Shaw think of Ulysses, behind the mock horror he loved it!

George Bernard Shaw (Nobel prize 1925 and author of Pygmalion, which was adapted into the iconic musical My Fair Lady) wrote in an early review to Sylvia Beach (the publisher & owner of the Paris-based Shakespeare & Company) these very funny lines:

‘It is a revolting record of a disgusting phase of civilisation; but it is a truthful one; and I should like to put a cordon-round Dublin; round up every male person in it between the ages of 15 and 30; force them to read it; and ask them whether on reflection they could see anything amusing in all that fouled mouthed, foul minded derision and obscenity. 

Clearly, there is more than a hint of mock horror, Shaw does seem to be both shocked and intrigued. He will of appreciated that his more mainstream audience would have expected him to disapprove of this banned work. 

But also Shaw clearly sees the literary merit:

To you, possibly, it may appeal as art: you are probably (you see I don’t know you) a young barbarian – beglamoured by the-excitements and enthusiasms that art stirs up in passionate material; but to me it is all hideously real: I have walked those streets and know those shops and have heard-and taken part in those conversations...’

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/letter-from-george-bernard-shaw-responding-to-james-joyces-ulysses

Apparently Shaw much later (1939 and well after the British and US bans had been lifted) publicly conceded that Joyce was a literary genius: "Ulysses as a masterpiece". The British Library also mentions that Joyce loved the original notariety

Shaw’s response highly amused Joyce, and he had this copy made to share with Weaver. Shaw’s original copy of the prospectus is also held by the British Library.

So what did Shaw first think of Ulysses, behind the mock horror of the banned book, it seems to me that he was also entranced and in awe of Ulysses. 

To be honest, while we are probably a lot harder to shock in 2022 than 1922, but there are parts of the book I am still a bit icky to read? Not the sexual content and sexual fantasy, which are both fascinating and highly entertaining, but mostly Joyce's characters' private lives are quite sensitively and compelling told. 

My problem with Joyce is the reoccurring references to his various bowel problems... I struggle a bit with musical farting, Joyce does seem to be appealing to the frat-boy market? 

Still in the name of openness, that is okay, just not to my taste... his S&M fantasy seems pretty hardcore too, plus that is pure fantasy, unfortunately, I fear Joyce (and many Dubliners) really did have a lot of bowel problems in 1922?

NB I love the light in this Yousuf Karsh portrait of George Bernard Shaw

Karsh captures Shaw as a great thinker and granddaddy of the  Fabian Society (a more liberal, social democratic form of socialism).

I was once lucky enough, in the summer of 1989, to attend a lecture in Ottawa by this legendary Canadian portrait photographer. I was taken away by the exhibition while backpacking across North America and decided to stay a few extra days in Ottawa (a fine city, although the hostel I was staying in was a converted prison and the noise at night was terrible... another story), too catch Karsh's public lecture.