Long before its publication , James Joyce's "Ulysses" was the cause of scandal. It was to be denounced as obscene, and its publication in Britain and the United States prevented. Controversy surrounded it throughout Joyce's lifetime, and he claimed amongst other things that the writing would keep scholars busy for centuries.
 
He was right. The book has become a mine for thesis-writers and led to one of the world's most lucrative literary industries. Now this has resulted in a new "Ulysses" scandal. "Ulysses: the Corrected Text" was hailed as the ideal version of the book when it appeared in 1986 and its German editor, Hans Walter Gabler, as a scholar who has restored Joyce to the reading public in as near perfect a version as war possible. Two years later he was publicly denounced by John Kidd, a young American Joyce scholar, and one of the most ferocious literary controversies erupted.
 
Joyceans worldwide were deeply divided over the merits and defects of the new edition. Arguments against the Gabler version grew in volume. The earlier 1961 "Ulysses" was restored to the marketplace. New publishers came forward to edit and produce new versions. And with the legal copyright running out at the end of 1991 chaos is imminent.
 
Bruce Arnold sets out the background, examines the legal loopholes, analyzes the arguments on both sides, looks at some of the hidden agendas, including controversial letters, and comes up with conclusions. Bruce Arnold also wrote "Margaret Thatcher: A Study in Power", "What Kind Of Country" and "Orpen: Mirror to An Age".