Derided as being obscene and unreadable, Ulysses, is the pioneering modernist novel of the 20th century. Inspiring a generation of writers, such as Virginia Woolf, this stream of conscious masterpiece has changed the literary landscape of the English speaking world, forever. The structure mirrors Homer’s Odyssey. Over eighteen chapters, the protagonist Leopold Bloom journeys through the trials and tribulations of Odysseus’s journey (latinised as Ulysses) and parallels the events of the poem. The action takes place over one day, June 16th 1904, chosen specifically to immortalise the day that James Joyce met his future wife, Nora Barnacle. First published in its entirety in 1922, Ulysses uses linguistic puzzles, word play, word creation, puns, religious imagery, paradies, humour and internal dialogue to create a novel that is both deliciously rich with a realism that is shockingly candid.