By any standards, I would say that Borges had perhaps one of the most refined critical minds in existence, and I don't remember ever finding fault with his conclusions on any topic. But this line, from a fragment he did on Joyce (concerning Ulysses) has been running through my head for the last week or so, ever since I read it.
He says: "In Ulysses there are sentences, there are paragraphs, that are not inferior to Shakespeare or Sir Thomas Browne."
He meant it as praise, and initially I read it as one, but it just isn't true. Shakespeare and Browne were each some of the most fantastic authors to write in English... ever. I've only read bits and pieces of Browne, but I've read at least half of Shakespeare's collected work, and Hamlet four times in particular--ironically, once as supplementary material the second time I read Ulysses.
I think this should really be reversed. Of course, I realize I'm treading some highly subjective territory, but throughout Ulysses Joyce consistently proves himself the superior stylist, both in the quantity of exemplary passages (if we were to combine a hastily balanced sample, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Tempest, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and a few others, and compiles our list of passages from those) as well as the quality thereof. Unfortunately, I don't have the background to validate this statement concerning Browne, but the samples I've read of his work still can't compare to Joyce.
I don't mean here to undervalue these artists (particularly Shakespeare, who I enjoy immensely), and they each have a variety of virtues that Joyce doesn't (particularly as an author who's virtues are entirely his own), but without a doubt, he is the superior stylist.
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