Recording of a lecture delivered on March 25, 2016, by Vicki Mahaffey as part of the Formal Lecture Series.  Mahaffey's lecture is also part of the Steiner Lecture Series.  

Dr. Mahaffey describes her lecture:  "Most of the time, readers who have difficulties with Ulysses complain that it is hard to understand. What I hope to demonstrate is that the greatest challenge the book presents to readers is not in fact intellectual, but emotional: can you care for others, even when you don’t understand them, even though they are flawed? Readers are put in the position of all three major characters—Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, and his wife Molly—one after another, all of whom are facing the same challenge: in some important way, they have failed to care for someone close to them. Is feeling for others “natural,” or is it something that must be learned and re-learned, and if so, how does such learning happen? Is it possible that the greatest challenge of reading Ulysses is not to know or understand more, but to learn how to feel more deeply, with greater self-awareness and acceptance of one’s limitations? "