Because of its daringly original structure, style, and content, Ulysses was outlawed in the United States and the United Kingdom throughout much of the 1920s. Joyce's story, which is heavily influenced by the Greek myth of the Trojan War hero, is based on Ulysses or Odysseus, who is destined to travel for ten years before returning to Ithaca. The Iliad and the Odyssey, which Joyce had read as a youngster from Charles Lamb's versions, had a significant influence on him. In reality, he saw him as the personification of the heroic ideal and was continually considering how to give the myth a fresh perspective in contemporary fiction.