James Joyce's Ulysses stands not only as the masterpiece in the writer's own canon, but remains one of perhaps only a handful of 20th century novels that can truly be described as indespensible and a real classic. With its radical invention of portraying the uncensured mind-flow of the narrator, known as “stream of consciousness”, Joyce crossed the bounderies of what literature could do. The influence of this and the novel's sheer complexity, sometimes direct and heartfelt, at other times deeply obscure, are only some of the traits that have left an enduring effect on later world literature.