@neauoire This is one of the reasons Ulysses is such a good book. The book begins with an obnoxiously intellectual young man who despite Knowing Everything is insufferable and miserable. The book eventually shifts to an older guy who is kind of a pushover and isn't a genius but is curious and happy and ultimately the person you would want to be. It makes it all the better that the first character is just the author making fun of his younger self.