Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ as Epic of Ordinary People

For decades, James Joyce’s Ulysses has carried a reputation as one of the most impenetrable works in Western literature — a dense, experimental novel that even seasoned academics approach with caution. But a prominent Chinese literary critic is challenging that notion, arguing that the book is not a puzzle for specialists but an epic celebration of everyday life. In a commentary published on May 31 by The Paper, Fudan University professor Ma Ling makes the case that Joyce’s masterpiece is, at its heart, a story about ordinary people.

A Fresh Lens on a Modernist Classic

Ma Ling’s interpretation reframes Ulysses — which traces the wanderings of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus through Dublin on a single day, June 16, 1904 — as a work of profound realism. “The ultimate realism is the realism of human consciousness,” she said in an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily. “The ultimate heroism is to never give up on life in the face of nothingness.”

Rather than focusing on plot twists or dramatic revelations — which the novel deliberately avoids — Ma Ling encourages readers to appreciate Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness technique as a tool for elevating the mundane. The book’s lack of conventional narrative hooks, she argues, is precisely the point: it mirrors the quiet dignity of an ordinary day.

The Deep Reading Revolution

Ma Ling’s commentary is not merely academic. Over the past four years, she has led more than 20,000 participants through a “Deep Reading Plan” (深度阅读计划) in partnership with Sanlian Zhongdu, the digital arm of the prestigious Sanlian Life Weekly. The program, launched in 2022, has tackled some of the most challenging works in world literature, including One Hundred Years of Solitude, In Search of Lost Time, Crime and Punishment, The Odyssey, and Lolita.

In early 2026, Ma Ling guided 1,800 participants through a complete reading of Ulysses over approximately two and a half months. Her method — which she calls “accompanying guided reading” (伴随式领读) — involves posting daily reading guides that provide historical context, literary analysis tools, and open-ended discussion questions. Thousands of readers across China read the same pages on the same day and discuss them together in WeChat groups.

Tears at the Final ‘YES’

The emotional impact of the journey was profound. When the group reached the novel’s final chapter — Molly Bloom’s unpunctuated, stream-of-consciousness monologue ending with the famous affirmation “YES” — many participants wept. “Some cried because they understood it, others cried because they had finished it,” Ma Ling recalled.

One participant described reading Ulysses as akin to running a marathon: “Ordinary people don’t need to do it, but once you persist, the way you see yourself and the world becomes different.”

Classics as a Collective Creation

Central to Ma Ling’s philosophy is the idea that classics belong to everyone. “Classics become classics not because the author is great, but because every generation of ordinary readers reads them, discusses them, brings their own emotions and perspectives to them, and gives them new meaning,” she said. “Ordinary people are not outsiders; they are co-creators of the classics.”

This democratic vision of literature stands in deliberate opposition to the fragmentation of attention in the digital age. Ma Ling explicitly frames her work as a response to what she calls “brain rot” (脑腐) from excessive short-video consumption, arguing that complex classics are “the best antidote to break the information cocoons built by various screens.”

A Model for Literary Education

The Deep Reading Plan’s success — with participants ranging from teenagers to readers in their 70s, from university professors to factory workers — suggests significant demand for structured, community-based literary education in China. The model combines academic expertise with grassroots participation, bridging the gap between elite literary scholarship and public engagement.

As Ma Ling puts it, her goal is simple: “To help ordinary readers find the courage to try reading major classics and discover that reading isn’t that hard — a classic is a classic.”

What’s Next

With over 20,000 participants in four years and a growing community of dedicated readers, the Deep Reading Plan shows no signs of slowing down. Ma Ling’s work not only offers a fresh perspective on Joyce’s masterpiece but also demonstrates the enduring power of collective reading in an age of digital distraction. For Chinese readers and literature lovers worldwide, her interpretation of Ulysses as an epic of ordinary people may well become a lasting contribution to how we understand one of the 20th century’s most celebrated novels.