Joyce

Reading Joyce can be the most frustrating experience—needing to stop every two lines to puzzle together what is going on, who is saying what, look up an obscure reference, and clue in to what the significance of it all is. But as soon as I’m about to chuck it at a wall, I come to the most ridiculous, laugh-out-loud lines, and I am suddenly charmed anew by the language. Here’s the latest example, the thoughts of Bloom as he tries to get the attention of his hard-of-hearing waiter, Pat:

“Bald Pat who is bothered mitred the napkins. Pat is a waiter hard of hearing. Pat is a waiter who waits while you wait. Hee hee hee hee. He waits while you wait. Hee hee. A waiter is he. Hee hee hee hee. He waits while you wait. While you wait if you wait he will wait while you wait. Hee hee hee hee. Hoh. Wait while you wait.”