Virginia Woolf ROASTS James Joyce

Рет қаралды 266,415

Tom Ayling

10 ай бұрын

Пікірлер: 667

@stanleydude3340 8 ай бұрын

She really just went "You're a third rate writer with a fourth rate book."

@todd5640 8 ай бұрын

Kaiba out

@eruno_ 7 ай бұрын

she said he has talent, but misuses it.

@sunkintree 7 ай бұрын

pure jealous

@starlinguk 7 ай бұрын

No, she says he is a really good writer and therefore does not need to resort to writing pretentious drivel.

@sunkintree 7 ай бұрын

@@starlinguk you havent read any Woolf if you think she's not pretentious lol

@maxtravers1314 3 ай бұрын

For reference, £4 in 1922 is equivalent to about £188 as of February 2024

@barbaralindhjem2488 3 ай бұрын

Thanks

@MiScusi69 2 ай бұрын

WTF

@angelacraw2907 2 ай бұрын

It was a banned book and had to be bought mail order. In fact the Paris publishers, ran by the indomitable Sylvia Beach at the time bankrupted herself keeping Joyce and his disfunctional family going during the years it took to publish the book. And although she had done this for him he took the book to an American publishers, after the ban was lifted, selling the rights from underneath her, which meant she could not recoup the losses incurred during Joyces' constant changes to the book. 'And so it goes.'

@bleepbloop6234 Ай бұрын

I would have been absolutely furious if I paid half that much for any of Joyce's books lmfao.

@LOLquendoTV 21 күн бұрын

Tbf, if I paid thay much for any book and it wasnt an absolute favourite, id be upset too

@JoaoPessoa86 8 ай бұрын

"But as Joyce is nearly 40, it's scarcely likely" 🔥🚨🔥🚨🔥🚨

@anujmore8249 8 ай бұрын

The worst that she say is "No" Her:

@RuthvenMurgatroyd 4 ай бұрын

😂 Bro, imagine getting rejected but it's done in her style of prose 💀

@JeremyHelm Ай бұрын

Would it help YOU grow out of it?

@jessef88 Ай бұрын

Dude 😂

@alexandresobreiramartins9461 Ай бұрын

Let us all remember that Nora Joyce told James, "Why don't you write books people can actually READ?!?"

@elizabethdouglas3417 7 ай бұрын

Read Ulysses in an English graduate class and my prof literally wished us all luck. I barely made it through. Utterly miserable part of the semester. Then we read Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, and my prof wished us luck again 😆😆

@yvetteworrall8909 6 ай бұрын

God yes. Found them both insufferable, Wolfe just more tersely so.

@neo-xy3fr 4 ай бұрын

I've STARTED To the Lighthouse so many times. Best I can do is 50 pages 😂

@Blue_3987 2 ай бұрын

@@neo-xy3fr same i read the same first 50-60 pages so many times cuz it's so beautiful then I don't understand anything lol

@angelacraw2907 2 ай бұрын

I prefer Woolf's writing to Joyce. Dubliners is incredible, but I couldn't understand Ulysses. Whereas I love Woolf's writing. She is doing some wonderful things with stream of consciousness in her works especially in Mrs Dalloway.

@notwerkinginthishouse8634 2 ай бұрын

Im about to read that book @@angelacraw2907

@julyol119 8 ай бұрын

Damn! A burn so hot, it still stings after a century 😂

@user-ns4ed3nu6h 5 ай бұрын

I don't know who it's stinging, but they must be quite sensitive 😂

@darthandeddeu 3 ай бұрын

It also fits Infinite Jest ...

@jfurl5900 Ай бұрын

I'm not sure that Joyce would have been bothered by her. After all he went on to write finnegans wake . She must have been in a real tizzy over that.

@canteventhough 8 ай бұрын

I needed that. The real rap battles of history.

@richardfinestra9218 4 ай бұрын

After that I imagine she had a stroke reading Finnegan's wake

@nedcassley5169 2 ай бұрын

Finnegans Wake

@DoctorDisco42 Ай бұрын

@@nedcassley5169 do they now?

@nedcassley5169 Ай бұрын

@@DoctorDisco42 Davenports may be slept on, but not Finnegans.

@AdorableLady 3 ай бұрын

Woolf calling someone else’s writing pretentious and brackish is fucking hillarious.

@wordsculpt 2 ай бұрын

She was innovative, and tried new ways of expressing herself, but was never, ever pretentious. Perhaps you haven't read her work? Or need to look up the meaning of the word.

@AdorableLady 2 ай бұрын

@@wordsculpt She’s my favorite author but you can’t read the Waves (my favorite book) endless soliloquys and not find it a bit pretentious.

@William.Kelly7 2 ай бұрын

@@wordsculpt even your description is pretentious

@antagonisticalex401 2 ай бұрын

@@William.Kelly7Everything in the universe is a bit pretentious if you have an annoying enough attitude. Converse isnt ture tho. You dont have to be annoying to find a pretentious thing, well, pretentious.

@Aengus42 2 ай бұрын

Pretentious? Moi?

@rulisa1131 7 ай бұрын

You have to read it like an Irish drunken poetic rambling. Then it's perfectly enjoyable 😂

@oldvlognewtricks 7 ай бұрын

You’re going to lose you mind when you find out that ‘enjoyable’ has almost nothing to do with ‘good’.

@ASingleSpaghetti 7 ай бұрын

@@oldvlognewtricksSaying "enjoyable" has nothing to do with "good" has about as much weight as claiming "enjoyable" has EVERYTHING to do with "good". Both are extremely subjective blanket statements that lack any real nuance.

@oldvlognewtricks 7 ай бұрын

@@ASingleSpaghetti That’ll be why there is so much argument for highly popular Hollywood entertainment behemoths being the best quality movies out there oh no wait. Orthogonal variables are orthogonal. Simply stating ‘nah’ isn’t sufficient as a rebuttal. Do you have a counterexample? I have plenty of enjoyable bad movies, and likewise excellent movies that are unpleasant to watch… rendering your point pretty toothless.

@localabsurdist6661 7 ай бұрын

@@oldvlognewtricksthere is nothing like an objectively good book my guy

@Philrc 7 ай бұрын

Not at all

@bokononbokomaru8156 7 ай бұрын

Yes, but don't miss Joyce's profound, incisive, & intellectually provocative retort of "Your mother's so ugly..."

@amberspecter 6 ай бұрын

Really?

@bokononbokomaru8156 6 ай бұрын

@amberspecter yes. It was in the epilogue on the promotional sleeve of Olsen's Standard Book of British Birds... the expurgated version (the one without the gannet)

@bubski_mcboo 7 ай бұрын

Honestly, I think it's a bit rich coming from her and her absolute acid trip of a narrative style.

@tilersun 6 ай бұрын

Exactly

@serbryndenshiversthecool5928 6 ай бұрын

Facts

@amberspecter 6 ай бұрын

It's an unpretentious acid trip, it tries to get to the heart of human experience, and the heart of human experience is twisty and trippy

@dennis65 6 ай бұрын

@@amberspecternah she was awful

@IrinaFay18 6 ай бұрын

Her stream of consciousness style is still much easier to follow than Joyce's

@plkrtn 7 ай бұрын

Virgina Woolf being condescending?! Perish the thought 😂

@MrDeyzel 6 ай бұрын

Every short this guy posts is super interesting

@archer1949 6 ай бұрын

I find Ulysses scans better if recited out loud, like a poem.

@celestialhylos7028 3 ай бұрын

That's peer feedback for you 😂😂😂😂😂

@naly202 6 ай бұрын

Look who's talking. Her and her characters who need an eternity to get to the flippin lighthouse.

@slappy8941 3 ай бұрын

"She" and her characters.

@vickyrobbins1224 10 ай бұрын

I forced myself to read it last year and I’ve never struggled more with a book. I would rather read war and peace for the rest of my life then ever have to read it one more time

@markchambers3833 8 ай бұрын

Still preferable to reading anything by Virginia Woolf.

@Awesomeficationify 7 ай бұрын

@@markchambers3833 you say that like you even knew that name before this video.

@alexander-yf3bp 7 ай бұрын

War and peace is a great read

@DaC10101 7 ай бұрын

War and Peace is incredible though…

@Ezio11GB 7 ай бұрын

@@markchambers3833 as someone who’s only read Harry Potter, skullduggery pleasant and Darren shans series, I agree

@ripleycastle5668 8 ай бұрын

She paid basically the buying power of £300 in today’s money for a book and then burnt that shit without fire.

@3-meo-2-oxo-pce 8 ай бұрын

£280 actually, but your point still stands

@mrscsi6472 4 ай бұрын

as someone who just finished to the lighthouse, i have to say she’s talking out her ass

@breadbunbun 3 ай бұрын

Nah.

@wordsculpt 2 ай бұрын

The way that You express yourself explains why you had a problem.

@breadbunbun 2 ай бұрын

@@wordsculpt Nah.

@NcessNasya 3 ай бұрын

Still a better love story than twilight.

@feliloki7 9 ай бұрын

havent read her diary but i read she actually wanted to be friends with him after reading it. I've read it and it was great

@Wakamolewonder 8 ай бұрын

What’s great about it.

@Mr.Slinky 8 ай бұрын

@@Wakamolewonderit’s got loads of words in it, stuff like that yknow. and the words are on pages. pretty cool yknow

@dingdongdickweed6288 7 ай бұрын

@@Wakamolewonder The writing. DERP

@yajy4501 Ай бұрын

I’d go with Joyce over Woolf any day of the week.

@matthewotto8322 2 ай бұрын

I love her analysis of the book. It's my favorite thing by her.

@FourEyedFrenchman Ай бұрын

Ulysses is a writer's flex. It's a great example of, "that's really cool, but it's kinda dumb, too."

@paxtonplato9771 15 күн бұрын

Whereas this comment is just really dumb.

@MYMOTHERISAFISH-ci2ts 3 ай бұрын

To be fair... She said it more as a jealous jab rather than an actual criticism. A lot of the prominent British intellectuals of the time (H.G Wells, D.H. Lawrence ,Aldous Huxley and more) hated Ulysses,simply because they couldn't bear the fact that the great English novel of their age was written by an Irishman. Anyone who has read Woolf knows how much intellectual and genius she was there is no way she disliked it because it was cumbersome, she hated it because she much like her fellow intellectuals couldn't stomach the fact that an Irishman could write this(not to mention her classist views on joyce too)

@kateh1743 5 күн бұрын

Precisely.

@willing1043 Ай бұрын

Holy crap imagine what she thought of Finnegans Wake!

@angelacraw2907 2 ай бұрын

Joyce had asked if Woolf's publishing house Hogarth Press would print Ulysses. He sent her the first 200 pages to read. However, they printed on a small press at home and could not have completed a print run of any size. They looked into getting an outside printers to complete the run but no British printers would touch it because of obscenity laws. They were lucky because the book bankrupted Shakespear & Company in Paris.

@bilindalaw-morley161 10 ай бұрын

I've never been able to get through it. It's hard work, and I felt deficient in the deeper thought processes! By the way Tom, I noticed you were showing an apparently water damaged paperback. It would be interesting if you'd occasionally say if ever that sort of copy might be worth something? Perhaps even a few valuations on damaged books? As always, kudos n thanks

@nebky 7 ай бұрын

"A first rate writer respects writing too much to be tricky" Pretty rich coming form the woman who wrote Mrs Dalloway.

@anjalinarayanan6881 7 ай бұрын

SO REAL

@wellesradio 7 ай бұрын

And Orlando. Still great books

@naamadossantossilva4736 7 ай бұрын

It takes one to know one.

@Lucia-pd6fi 8 ай бұрын

This is brilliant 😂

@Natashahoneypot 6 ай бұрын

Great short video. Your voice is both clear and informative yet relaxing. The silence of the libray is also relaxing. magical . 🌖 🌟 📙

@ross6753 6 ай бұрын

Well, she was right about it: Ulysses is dreadfully boring. But then so was she

@celestialhylos7028 3 ай бұрын

Indeed, literary enjoyment is derived from subjective taste, particular mood and age.

@ross6753 3 ай бұрын

@@celestialhylos7028 Yeah. Some people like excitement, others like boredom. But a boring person who blames someone else for being boring, that doesn't make much sense

@ilovepeoplebro Ай бұрын

@@ross6753"boring" in your mind is "absolutely entertaining" for someone else

@ross6753 Ай бұрын

@@ilovepeoplebro I think I'm one among a very large crowd when I state that Ulysses IS definitely very boring. The crowd that finds it "absolutely entertaining" I bet is probably pretty slim

@michaelsieger9133 25 күн бұрын

@@ross6753Ulysses is the funniest book I’ve ever read. The prose is so versatile that the work deftly alternates between highly humorous passages and moments of deep pathos. I don’t know… perhaps I can attribute my enjoyment of the work to my personal background. As someone who grew up in a Catholic family and attended Latin school, it’s not surprising that the tone and attitude of the piece resonated with me. But I would still hold, along with several other people whom I know to be of the same opinion, that Ulysses is one of the most engaging texts I have encountered. As opposed to many of the other works of modernism, whose style is difficult and whose content is oftentimes indecipherable, Joyce has a way of making his work both exuberant and fun-loving.

@dominicgodfrey8015 8 ай бұрын

Reminds me of vladimir nabokov 😂

@nefariouspurplebadger 3 ай бұрын

I agree with her. That book is awful

@LM-fn6qb 5 күн бұрын

I absolutely love Virginia Woolf's diaries. Every page has a jewel of an insight or observation. And so funny and perceptive about the people she meets.

@so-um7dm 7 ай бұрын

That's £230 today!

@xTheUnderscorex 7 ай бұрын

Well if that's what she thought of Ulysses, I need to hear her take on Finnegans Wake

@Guitarbarella 4 күн бұрын

Sounds like she was jealous.

@joebykaeby 4 ай бұрын

Very fancy way of saying “damn this guy needs an editor”

@andrewbaertlein 7 ай бұрын

Has she read anything she’s written? She’s maybe the most tricky author I try to read regularly.

@lindahl458 7 ай бұрын

I've only read Orlando, but didn't find it too tricky? Could you clarify? (A serious question)

@thegreaterconundrum 6 ай бұрын

It seems she’s mostly commenting on the fact that he has a really wonderful idea that was just executed lazily

@ticketyboo2456 6 ай бұрын

Yes. I love her.

@Of_infinite_Faith 6 ай бұрын

Woolf is much easier to read than Joyce.

@Lynwood_Jackson 3 ай бұрын

I love James Joyce. I read all of his works last year. That's really disappointing to think that she thought so lowly of him and his work.

@TheSmilerGroganCase 8 күн бұрын

to be fair... i couldn't make it through Ulysses OR Mrs Dalloway.

@rennytothe4727 16 күн бұрын

she basically said “you’re a lost cause” 😭💀

@CJ-uo5cl 6 ай бұрын

Ulysess was ridiculous.

@Tracywhited2 7 ай бұрын

lol. She was a jerk.

@beastman2244 7 ай бұрын

Coming from the stream of consciousness poet like cmon bru

@charlesboucher9533 7 ай бұрын

Finally! For many years now I have been embarrassed by my reaction to Ulysses. I'm reasonably well read and still an avid reader at 59, but I just assumed I lacked the sophistication to appreciate what is said to be the best of all books. Tosh, difuse... brackish. Well said Ms. Woolf! Thankyou for the post.

@logikgr 7 ай бұрын

Not all books will jive with every person.

@ValeriaPugliesiWashington 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for putting my thoughts and feelings into so precise wording.

@BlueSaphire70 7 ай бұрын

I completely agree with you.

@polylyth 7 ай бұрын

59 and still insecure.

@ulch11 6 ай бұрын

To be fair, if Woolf says a book is terrible, that's really to be taken as a compliment. Seeing how horrendous her works are.

@InfactBased 7 ай бұрын

To be fair Wolfe comes off as posh and pretentious too

@willowtdog6449 3 ай бұрын

I’ve only ever read excerpts for school assignments, but that’s because I didn’t enjoy reading it either. 😂

@eskybakzu712 2 ай бұрын

Well, now we now that Ulysses is the most influential novel of the 20th century ... like, by far

@terminallyonline5296 Ай бұрын

The most scathing review of a novel is to say it could be oh so much more

@jackieking1522 3 ай бұрын

Thank you...and Virginia.... I've not much time left and always wondered if I was about to miss out. Maybe I'll just start watching Marvel movies for the last few whatever.

@merlinsclaw 10 күн бұрын

I've always loathed Virginia Woolf, and now I have another reason.

@XIIchiron78 2 ай бұрын

Her description also accurately summarizes my perception of a lot of media today. All flash and no substance, more concerned with high handed pretention than with just actually being worthwhile

@dingdongdickweed6288 7 ай бұрын

LOL She was wrong.

@etnijaveirija4901 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for interesting facts and stories that I would never known otherwise.

@jaylewis3665 10 ай бұрын

I just finished portrait of an artist as a young man, and it was hard to get through. Not because i thought it was pretentious or anything, i just didnt care about the story. Probably will be a long time before i attempt anything else joyce

@markchambers3833 8 ай бұрын

You should consider reading 'Dubliners', probably the most normal thing Joyce wrote. An excellent book.

@AngeIofContempt 7 ай бұрын

"hard ti get through" how old are you, i understood it as a teen.

@TalKScribe 7 ай бұрын

I'm not afraid of her

@josefserf1926 2 күн бұрын

Ulysses is brilliant, but just not as brilliant as Joyce and others have said so. Did any other book's reputation have so much to live up to?

@petermorhead4160 2 ай бұрын

I could not agree more.

@user-no3fv4xm4r Ай бұрын

Ulysses was and still is not everyone’s cup of tea. It demands hard work from the readership because it’s unlike anything the reader has ever read or will ever read. Woolf’s “roast” is basically a rant birthed by frustration-Ulysses can frustrate the reader.

@Jabberstax 2 ай бұрын

She wasn't wrong. It's a terrible book.

@paxtonplato9771 15 күн бұрын

Greatest novel in the English language by far .

@barbararice6650 4 күн бұрын

@@paxtonplato9771 Haha no 😁

@paxtonplato9771 2 күн бұрын

@@barbararice6650 Nice try mate 👍

@barbararice6650 2 күн бұрын

@@paxtonplato9771 Well it's subjective one English writer or the other, I find the book gibberish detailing the tribulations of a cuck, but you like it obviously 👈🙄

@barbararice6650 2 күн бұрын

@@paxtonplato9771 Oh come KZfaq the cuckoo word isn't against jesus, stop deleting my replies 🙄 Okay as for you, I find Ulysses by James Joyce absolute pretentious gibberish with a daft plot, however you seem to think it's of some worth, I can't argue your subjective opinion, have at it, I know the Irish push him because he's the only notable Irish writer who wasn't Anglo/Irish 😑 Everyone knows who the greatest writer in the English language is and I don't need to tell 😕

@KThyme 7 ай бұрын

It's funny to me that these are also 2 of my favorite authors!

@williamarndt9465 6 ай бұрын

I've held the manuscript of Ulysses... well part of it ... Where I worked.

@stephennelson2166 4 ай бұрын

And why do we care what she thinks?

@barbararice6650 4 күн бұрын

Because she's one of the greatest authors in English literature 😕

@JamesMc2051 4 күн бұрын

People don't give opinions depending on whether you agree with them or not. (i.e.. You don't have to care what she thinks.)

@agentwrench 7 ай бұрын

And as someone who was forced to read Ulysses in university, I love her for that

@toddbloss 16 күн бұрын

I guess it was Joyce that must have been afraid of her.

@operaguy1 3 ай бұрын

Could be talking about Nabokov. Tricksy.

@jim7205 2 ай бұрын

Bonga bonga to the captain

@suzanneknibb3501 6 ай бұрын

having read the book, I totally agree with Ms Wolf

@Robert_St-Preux 8 ай бұрын

I made it a hundred pages before I tossed it aside, furious with Joyce for having made it so deliberately unreadable.

@Lin-1785 7 ай бұрын

Wow. I had a tough time sometimes convincing my students that beloved and famous writing was also disliked, often by others in the same anthology!

@ritaparker478 6 ай бұрын

I so like the fact that in this day and age you are such an insightful collector of literature. I apologize for my ageism bias. It seems so many young people I meet are only interested in the digital world.

@artangel4172 10 ай бұрын

Amazing! Hi Tom , any old editions of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre ? Thank You. 😊

@tomwayling 10 ай бұрын

I posted a couple of videos about a first edition of Wuthering Heights back in the spring!

@artangel4172 10 ай бұрын

@@tomwayling O I m sorry, thank you. I m new here! Really love your channel! I m an artist and illustrator and i m so glad I found your channel! Best Wishes.

@tomwayling 10 ай бұрын

no problem at all!! Thanks for finding me :) @@artangel4172

@nedcassley5169 2 ай бұрын

I enjoyed it. The advice I'm glad I followed was to keep reading when you know you are missing things. Once you get to the end, you'll either want to read it again -- and you will struggle less -- or you will put it down never to pick it up again but never wondering if you had quit on it too soon.

@jgcoverkknot5701 2 ай бұрын

They really went all out with imsults back then 😅

@gwae48 14 күн бұрын

She nailed it. 👍🏻👏🏻

@dwp6471 7 ай бұрын

I have read the first five chapter many times and put it down everytime. I didn't care about the characters enough to continue. One of the few books I have ever put down without finishing.

@kessler2797 6 күн бұрын

Novelists should stick to what they know I guess

@jenniestevens1166 2 ай бұрын

Dragging Joyce is my favorite pastime. Good to know I have something in common with Woolf.

@muggedinmadrid 6 ай бұрын

Its important to have read at least some literary criticism of Ulysses before reading the novel. His Finnegans Wake makes Ulysses look like an Enid Blyton book. Joyce was god-like in his literary visions. He will never be matched.

@davidmichael9034 8 ай бұрын

Oh, I didn't know this. There videos are always interesting.

@h-Qalziel 3 ай бұрын

I wonder if she read Finnegan's Wake. I haven't managed to get past page 10!

@davidbrown7883 3 ай бұрын

She hated the Irish. 😮

@petermorhead4160 2 ай бұрын

If that were true she would not have read the book in the first place.

@davidbrown7883 2 ай бұрын

@@petermorhead4160 There's examples of her racism in writing, she didn't hide it. She was of her age.

@Swissmister93 7 ай бұрын

That's rich coming from the author of Mrs. Dalloway, possibly the most boring and pointless book I've ever read.

@janegardener1662 7 ай бұрын

I didn't like reading the book myself, but the audiobook is fantastic. A great narrator who takes a breath in all the right places made a huge difference to me.

@tico5058 6 ай бұрын

Pointless? How?

@37BopCity 7 күн бұрын

Virginia Woolf was full of crap. If anyone wrote "tosh" it was her, she'd know all about it.

@choreomaniac 8 ай бұрын

I feel the same about Finnegan’s Wake.

@JonBrownSherman 8 ай бұрын

I couldn't get through "A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man"

@isabellacarta1120 6 ай бұрын

I went to translate the Word "tosh" wich I did't know and I couldn't believe It. 😂😂😂

@koloblican11763 9 ай бұрын

God DAMN hahaha

@theleanders2010 8 күн бұрын

I felt the same way reading it!

@nerervarine 9 ай бұрын

Not read it but Anna Karenina by Tolstoy made me ill

@ocdtdc Ай бұрын

Sadly, she never wrote anything half as good as Ulysses

@leighfoulkes7297 8 ай бұрын

I agree with some of her assessments but Ulysses is fun to read and once you read one of Woolf's books, there is no need to read it again.

@DrTHC 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, that's a good roasting. Lol

@danielfordham2457 9 күн бұрын

I think her take is absolutely spot on

@jessef88 Ай бұрын

Who cares what she thinks about how he writes. Writing is not like math 😂

@melissastreeter22 7 ай бұрын

Your British accent on top of your articulate, erudite presenations is really the cherry on top. Respectfully, one of your American cousins.

@Alicedoesart 2 ай бұрын

Plus: he looks like a young Feargal Sharkey.

@drlnielsen 2 ай бұрын

I feel similarly, but feel I must have missed something. I blame Ezra Pound.