Short Summary
On June 16, 1904, in Dublin, Leopold Bloom — a middle-aged Jewish advertising canvasser — spends an ordinary day navigating the city, grieving his dead son, and avoiding the fact that his wife Molly is about to sleep with her tour manager. Simultaneously, young Stephen Dedalus wanders Dublin wrestling with guilt over his mother's death and his artistic ambitions. Their paths cross briefly at night, and the novel ends with Molly Bloom's unpunctuated 'yes'-ending monologue. Every episode mirrors one from Homer's Odyssey. Almost nothing happens. Everything happens.
Detailed Summary
Ulysses unfolds over a single day — June 16, 1904 — later celebrated as 'Bloomsday' by readers around the world. The novel follows two protagonists across Dublin: Leopold Bloom, a 38-year-old Jewish-Irish advertising canvasser, and Stephen Dedalus, a 22-year-old aspiring writer and former theology s...