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July 12, 2015

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Drawn to Joyce’s classic novel

AMERICAN illustrator Robert Berry is reproducing James Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness modernist classic “Ulysses” as digital graphic novel “Ulysses ‘Seen’” in a bid, he says, to bring the Irish writer to new readers “without playing it down.”

The 1922 novel, following 24 hours in the life of advertising canvasser Leopold Bloom, is composed of myriad puns and puzzles that Joyce himself once said “will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant.”

Not surprisingly, the book is widely regarded as hard to read and decode.

“For new fans of Joyce it’s important to remember that he wasn’t writing to the elite, sophisticated audience. He believed he was writing a book that can be enjoyed by everyone,” Berry said.

“One of the most successful forms of literature at his time was the detective novel. Joyce put all those riddles and things in there that you are supposed to seek out as you read along because he thought that would be increasingly interesting — not just for professors.”

The four chapters of “Ulysses ‘Seen’” are available for iPad, plus a reader’s guide by Joyce scholar Mike Barsanti. Readers are also able to ask questions and share insights. The material is also available on website ulyssesseen.com.

Berry and his company Throwaway Horse aim to produce two chapters a year. The 18 chapters are due to be complete in 2022 — the 100th anniversary of the book’s publication in its entirety.

“What we trying to do is to create a system in which comics can be seen as a window into deeper contents. It’s still a reading experience, and through that into the original material. It’s a brand-new way of teaching the novel, like an actor performing,” said Berry.

The illustrator was in Shanghai last month to address an audience of Joyce fans at the Shanghai Grand Theater at an event supported by the Irish consulate in Shanghai. The gathering was to help celebrate all things Joyce on Bloomsday — held on June 16 as the events in “Ulysses” take place on June 16, 1904.

Afterward, Berry sat down for a talk with Shanghai Daily.

 

Q: What inspired you to draw “Ulysses ‘Seen’”?

A: I went to a Bloomsday event in Philadelphia in 2004 and it was fairly unsuccessful. There were people reading and you could tell that they didn’t really know the novel. I wound up in a discussion with a cartoonist who said a comic strip is perfect for adapting Joyce.

It wasn’t until there was the possibility of digital pages and educational components that I became attracted to the idea of how comics can be a window into the novel. Adaptation in itself isn’t interesting to me. But to be able to use the skills I have as a cartoonist in the same as an actor might use their skills, to recreate the novel in a way to charm new audiences is very attractive and artistically very fulfilling.

 

Q: How did you start with the iPad version?

A: The “Ulysses ‘Seen’” project began in 2008, and the design work was based on the idea of there would be something like today’s iPad.

In 2010, “Ulysses ‘Seen’” was one of the first comic apps on the iPad. We ran into some problems with Apple, which couldn’t allow anything perceived as pornographic in the early days. We submitted our work with images like Buck Mulligan taking off his clothes going for a bath and a naked woman bringing milk to Stephen Dedalus and Mulligan in the morning, which were not allowed.

We made the changes and kept the original material on the website. Then the press found out and ran some stories. Based on “Ulysses ‘Seen’” Apple changed its ruling about creating artistic content going into the Apple store.

 

Q: Are you the only illustrator working on the project?

A: I do the storyboards, but we’ve added more cartoonists to do it faster. I like to keep it loose enough to allow their own unique voices in drawing stuff. I don’t want to pin them down too much.

 

Q: How do you ensure consistency between chapters then?

A: The idea is to be less consistent. Joyce likes to do this thing called parallaxes, the idea of seeing things in different viewpoints. Each chapter has a different style in the way it is presented.

By using different cartoonists, I’m able to pick and choose the style appropriate to each chapter. There’s a chapter that happens in a newspaper office, and I want to use someone who is very good at newspaper cartoons. So characters will become simplified, more cartoony.

 

Q: How have Joyce fans reacted?

A: I’ve received tremendous support from the scholarly community and the broader elements of Joyce fandom.

Depiction is hardest. Everybody who reads a thing has an imaginary version that they can’t even really see themselves. But they can tell you what’s wrong. Every artist — unfortunately or fortunately — has to visualize it and stick with it. So depiction is always the problem.

The nice thing about doing this in a web-based community and doing it in a serialized fashion is that before I begin a chapter I often put up questions about things I will be dealing with. Costume issues, casting issues, who people think a character may look like.

 

Q: How do readers’ comments affect your approach?

A: The hat that Stephen wears became the subject of a debate. Eventually I settled for something with a modern look and the simplicity of the French beret. I received comments about how that was incorrect. But I didn’t change because I can’t go back and had to make the decision based upon what scholars told me.

On Twitter before we came to China, there was an ongoing discussion about whether there were two doors in the kitchen in Bloom’s house. It went on for literally 24 hours, with people tweeting back and forth about whether there was a second door.

Years from now, when I am on the last part where we come back to Bloom’s kitchen, I’ll certainly make sure that people see there are two doors!

 

Q: Will you try some new techniques in future chapters?

A: Always. Every time I come back to it, I come from a different point of view. The Proteus chapter, the first one drawn by another artist, begins with the scene of landscape format, but it’s a stream of consciousness chapter. In order to echo that, it appears digitally as one long scroll without pages.

Every time we come to the new chapter we change a form, and that’s exciting.

 

Q: Any similar re-imagining projects in the future?

A: Our company has developed projects from existing comic books, such as “The Waste Land” by Martin Rowson and “Age of Bronze” by Eric Shanower. I hope to do that with Shakespeare’s works and Tolkien’s “The Lord of The Rings” series.




 

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