5 ms·

Joyce never intended for the book to only be read by university professors - he was a man of the people and intended for the book to be read by ordinary people.

Joyce never intended for the book to only be read by university professors - he was a man of the people and intended for the book to be read by ordinary people. Still a guide is kinda necessary when tackling it.

twoodfin 3y ago
The RTÉ radio production is essentially word-for-word complete, fully cast & wonderfully performed. It’s my recommended on ramp to the novel for anyone intimidated by the prose style. Ironically (intentionally?), Joyce simultaneously wrote wonderfully for the spoken word form, but insisted on typography that makes who’s saying what often obscure. https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0610/1146705-listen-ulysses-james-joyce-podcast/ https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0610/1146705-listen-ulysses-...
- dumpsterlid 3y ago
  [dead]
- mackrevinack 3y ago
  i must check that out when i get home. frank delaney did short podcasts every week where he went through a few lines at a time. he never got to finish the full book unfortunately but its what i usually recommend to people because its very casual and easy to listen to
- richeyryan 3y ago
  The audiobook, narrated by Jim Norton, is also great. His delivery is quite engaging, and any parts that might be a bit impenetrable while reading flow over you, and you can hook back in later.
ramesh31 3y ago
>Joyce never intended for the book to only be read by university professors - he was a man of the people and intended for the book to be read by ordinary people. Honestly, he intended the work to be read aloud publicly, in the same vein of epic storytelling as The Odyssey. There's even a recording of him reading a few pages, it's absolutely mesmerizing: https://youtu.be/ZhW0TrzWGmI https://youtu.be/ZhW0TrzWGmI
- richeyryan 3y ago
  I saw a production of Ulysses twice in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on two separate runs. I had already read the book, but seeing it performed was a completely different experience, like seeing a Shakespeare text performed in film or on stage. Similarly, I saw an adaptation of the Cyclops episode in the New Theatre, which was incredible. I know Ulysses is unfilmable, but I'd like to see someone like Paul Thomas Anderson try.
c_crank 3y ago
He horribly misjudged what ordinary people enjoy, then.
icepat 3y ago
> Still a guide is kinda necessary when tackling it I've always disagreed with this idea that you need a "guide" to read some books. Guided reading inspires a specific reading of the book, which may not always be the reading that speaks most to the reader. To me it's equivalent to taking a walk with a geologist, or a biologist, through a natural park. While you will certainly see aspects you would not have picked up without them, you may expend so much absorbing these specifics that you neglect the aspects that speak most to you. In university, I remember many professors dismissing some of my favorite books as "requiring guidance" to read. The thinly veiled implication was that they were lost on me. Which is rather silly. Instead of looking for the specific academic aspects of the books (which were indeed lost on me, and still are), the aspects of the books which I took the most away from were non-academic.

twoodfin 3y ago

The RTÉ radio production is essentially word-for-word complete, fully cast & wonderfully performed. It’s my recommended on ramp to the novel for anyone intimidated by the prose style. Ironically (intentionally?), Joyce simultaneously wrote wonderfully for the spoken word form, but insisted on typography that makes who’s saying what often obscure. https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0610/1146705-listen-ulysses-james-joyce-podcast/ https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0610/1146705-listen-ulysses-...

dumpsterlid 3y ago
[dead]
mackrevinack 3y ago
i must check that out when i get home. frank delaney did short podcasts every week where he went through a few lines at a time. he never got to finish the full book unfortunately but its what i usually recommend to people because its very casual and easy to listen to
richeyryan 3y ago
The audiobook, narrated by Jim Norton, is also great. His delivery is quite engaging, and any parts that might be a bit impenetrable while reading flow over you, and you can hook back in later.

ramesh31 3y ago

>Joyce never intended for the book to only be read by university professors - he was a man of the people and intended for the book to be read by ordinary people. Honestly, he intended the work to be read aloud publicly, in the same vein of epic storytelling as The Odyssey. There's even a recording of him reading a few pages, it's absolutely mesmerizing: https://youtu.be/ZhW0TrzWGmI https://youtu.be/ZhW0TrzWGmI

richeyryan 3y ago
I saw a production of Ulysses twice in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin on two separate runs. I had already read the book, but seeing it performed was a completely different experience, like seeing a Shakespeare text performed in film or on stage. Similarly, I saw an adaptation of the Cyclops episode in the New Theatre, which was incredible. I know Ulysses is unfilmable, but I'd like to see someone like Paul Thomas Anderson try.

c_crank 3y ago

He horribly misjudged what ordinary people enjoy, then.

icepat 3y ago

> Still a guide is kinda necessary when tackling it I've always disagreed with this idea that you need a "guide" to read some books. Guided reading inspires a specific reading of the book, which may not always be the reading that speaks most to the reader. To me it's equivalent to taking a walk with a geologist, or a biologist, through a natural park. While you will certainly see aspects you would not have picked up without them, you may expend so much absorbing these specifics that you neglect the aspects that speak most to you. In university, I remember many professors dismissing some of my favorite books as "requiring guidance" to read. The thinly veiled implication was that they were lost on me. Which is rather silly. Instead of looking for the specific academic aspects of the books (which were indeed lost on me, and still are), the aspects of the books which I took the most away from were non-academic.