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Yes I Will Read Ulysses Yes
- sys32768 1y agohttps://archive.is/EanTi https://archive.is/EanTi
- zabzonk 1y agoThose of a more light-hearted temperament might prefer Ellman's book on Oscar Wilde. But Joyce is himself very adequately described and amusingly so.
- jahnu 1y agoHonestly, it’s not as strange a read as people make out. Read it twice. After the first time which was ok but not an amazing experience I then read an analysis/explaination and then I read it a second time which was obviously much easier and it was really great. Finnegan’s Wake on the other hand… bailed after three pages.
- rjpower9000 1y agoI had a similar experience. I finally got around to reading Ulysses when I had some downtime between jobs and pushed my way through it. I ended up referring to https://www.ulyssesguide.com/ https://www.ulyssesguide.com/ as I went along which helped substantially: the extra context and discussion made me appreciate the novel more. I came to the conclusion that while I didn't necessarily _like it_ per se, I had to acknowledge how absurdly talented Joyce was, and that there was some justification for being in the top books list. My feeling was that the lack of enjoyment was a fault of the book but more that I didn't have the background to appreciate it. Though there were also some chapters where most people agree Joyce was just trying too hard and it shows.
- atombender 1y agoI've never read Finnegans Wake, but it made a lot more sense when I heard it spoken out loud, which I think was the intent. Here's Joyce reading it: https://youtu.be/M8kFqiv8Vww?si=YO69BX_KVEINr5mo https://youtu.be/M8kFqiv8Vww?si=YO69BX_KVEINr5mo. I had the same sensation when I listened to Fiona Shaw performing The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who breathes completely new life into it: https://youtu.be/lPB_17rbNXk?si=IBKeyTnu0KCZ2r_U https://youtu.be/lPB_17rbNXk?si=IBKeyTnu0KCZ2r_U. (She's an amazing actress, truly one of the greats.) The poem is supposed to many types of voices talking, so you lose a lot of meaning if you just read it like a poem (even T. S. Eliot himself reads it quite poorly!).
- eszed 1y agoFiona Shaw is one of the greats. I've been lucky enough to see her on stage a couple of times. For those of you who don't recognize her name, she's Maarva in Andor, and some minor character (I don't remember) in the Harry Potter films - neither of which roles get even close to challenging her range and power.
- atombender 1y agoI would love to see her on stage. She did wonders with the Maarva character even though it was a very small role.
- segfault99 1y agoAnyone seen Jorn Barger lately?
- jknoepfler 1y agoI (too) had a similar experience! On the first read I felt like I was barely scratching the surface but could enjoy just enough of the lyricism and imagery to slog through, but definitely didn't "get it". Then I read it with a bunch of fellow book nerds and put some effort into unpacking it and had a blast. It definitely repays sustained attention, if literary fiction is your jam.
- 2b3a51 1y agoRTE produced a dramatised reading of Ulysses by actors. Still available for download. I found this helped me access the written text. https://www.rte.ie/culture/2025/0527/1146705-listen-ulysses-james-joyce-podcast/ https://www.rte.ie/culture/2025/0527/1146705-listen-ulysses-...
- gnulinux 1y agoIt's definitely not the hardest "arthouse" novel (or whatever you call it), I found Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon so much more harder, and Beckett's Three Novels (i.e. Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable) was likely the most difficult text I attempted to read in my life. Even then, I think it's still pretty difficult for an average Western reader in 2020s, our literacy attention span and interest is very low. People should definitely attempt it though!
- squidsoup 1y agoPynchon's "California" novels (crying of lot 49, vineland, inherent vice) are much more readable, and arguably enjoyable. I found Gravity's Rainbow pretty inscrutable.
- rxtexit 1y agoCrying of Lot 49 is wonderful and I am not really a big fiction fan. I will have to give Vineland and Inherent Vice a shot. Gravity's Rainbow is just a lost cause for me with the size let alone the content.
- i_hated_finegan 1y agoYou made it three pages? I doubt I made it two.
- sivers 1y agoIf you don't mind audiobooks, here's one way (well, two ways) to listen to Ulysses: https://sive.rs/ulysses https://sive.rs/ulysses
- fullstick 1y agoI'm doing "subtitles" for Ulysses right now. Combo physical book and audio book while I read.
- gnulinux 1y agoJust in case people consider this seriously, I just want to add my two cents: Ulysses although is prose, it's so much more of a poetry than prose compared many other novels. I personally don't think listening to someone's reading of Ulysses will be remotely similar to reading it on page. Some of the chapters are really almost entirely about discovering how to read this chapter. I don't necessarily think it's bad, just the same way you can listen to poetry by going to a poetry reading session, you can listen to Ulysses. Just note that it's going to be an entirely different experience than reading it, and it will likely forever bias your interpretation of the book. Just my humble two cents, I don't claim to know anything.
- ramesh31 1y agoYou can listen to the man himself reading it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhW0TrzWGmI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhW0TrzWGmI It's meant as pure lyrical poetry. Reading it aloud is like dancing with your tongue instead of feet.
- phendrenad2 1y agoWhy not both? Listen and read along.
- JadeNB 1y ago> Why not both? Listen and read along. Have you done that successfully for any book? I've never tried, but it seems likely to me to be very difficult, unless you happen to read at exactly the narrator's pace.
- some_random 1y agoUlysses to me is a really good example of a book whose reputation has been sabotaged by being assigned in class, that was where I first read it and while I was ambivalent to it most people seemed to hate it.
- Spivak 1y agoI think high schools / universities do their students such a disservice assigning books that students don't have the life experience to understand. Like they can read the book and analyze it sure but they're going to hate it and be bored out their minds because the experiences being portrayed aren't relatable (yet). No high schooler or undergrad is going to understand a book that talks about being trapped in a life they don't enjoy by the choices they've made that's meant for a reader in their 40s.
- gnulinux 1y agoThis is extremely true. Reading Dostoyevsky as an adult was like finding a long lost treasure in ancient scrolls. I never understood what's the point in High School. Some of the classics are really classics because they're so much about humanity at large, and unless you're a literary prodigy like Rimbaud or whatever a lot of human drama won't make sense to you in high school--maybe even then. Schools really blew it out of proportion by assigning books like Crime & Punishment, Ulysses etc to 16 year old kids who are essentially overgrown toddlers. I think kids should still attempt to read these books in High School (learning comes from challenge) but creating the entire curriculum based on these adult books does them a disservice by not answering the "why do we give a shit?" question. Really, same thing goes for most other disciplines. So many kids learn 4 years of algebra without having the slightest clue that this all is building to something called "Calculus" that they don't understand what it is.
- cosmic_cheese 1y ago> So many kids learn 4 years of algebra without having the slightest clue that this all is building to something called "Calculus" that they don't understand what it is. That specifically at least could be improved greatly by just reworking classes to include plenty of hands-on practical application so it’s not so abstract. The pervasive thought during that period of my life was, “why am I learning this” and nobody wanted to bother answering except with the non-answer, “you might need it someday.”
- ramesh31 1y agoThe title is in reference to Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness monologue in the final chapter. If you read one single work of english literature in your life, let it be this: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4300/4300-h/4300-h.htm#chap18 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4300/4300-h/4300-h.htm#chap1...
- patrickscoleman 1y agoFinally read it this year and so happy that I did! Although a lot of that reading was skimming haha. I think that's good for a first reading though. You get a really good idea of the overall pacing and chapter-to-chapter variety that way.
- TurkishPoptart 1y agoWhy this one?
- sombrero_john 1y agoUlysses is the kind of book people read just so they can tell other people that they read it.
- klodolph 1y agoI’ve never met anyone who has done that, this sounds like the kind of thing someone would say just to put people down.
- casey2 1y agoYou are saying this in a thread full of people who are telling everybody else in it that they've read it. And these people should be put down
- klodolph 1y agoCould you clarify what you’re saying? It sounds like you’re saying that you have some kind of moral obligation to insult people who say that they have read Ulysses. That’s my first reading of your comment, but I don’t think it’s correct, because it’s just such a dumb thing to say. It’s a thread about the book Ulysses. You don’t like the book, go to a different thread.
- squidsoup 1y agoIncorrect, its a book for people that like farts.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- sandy_coyote 1y agoI tried reading it once, but hearing excerpts of this book read aloud really unlocked it for me. In the right hands (mouth?), it's hilarious.
- jackconsidine 1y agoHappy Bloom's Day 2 days ago everyone [1]. I'm on my 4th attempt at Ulysses. It's just two dense. Too many niche references that only an educated early 20th century Irish citizen would understand. [1] Ulysses took place all on June 16th 1904. Most of the book is stream of consciousness from Leopold Bloom. Bloom's Day is now a celebration of Joyce in Ireland
- WalterGR 1y ago> Too many niche references that only an educated early 20th century Irish citizen would understand. Presumably there are dozens of companion references to explain those. Can anyone recommend some?
- kej 1y agoI have this site [0] bookmarked in case I ever get around to reading it again. I like the use of hypertext so that you can follow the explanations you want and ignore others, and the inclusion of pictures and videos reminds me of the breathless anticipation of new multimedia experiences back when CD-ROMs started becoming common. [0] http://m.joyceproject.com/info/aboutproject.html http://m.joyceproject.com/info/aboutproject.html
- paulette449 1y agoI read Ulysses last year and enjoyed it but this "companion" book was indispensable: https://bookshop.org/p/books/ulysses-annotated-revised-and-expanded-edition-don-gifford/6560331?ean=9780520253971 https://bookshop.org/p/books/ulysses-annotated-revised-and-e... But also the free (online) Joyce Project with hyperlinked annotations: http://m.joyceproject.com/chapters/telem.html http://m.joyceproject.com/chapters/telem.html I wish I'd bought this version when It came out. It's pretty expensive now. https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-cambridge-ulysses-the-1922-text-with-essays-and-notes-library-edition/b7514a1278e8241a?ean=9781009568449&next=t https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-cambridge-ulysses-the-1922-... And I cannot recommend Frank Delaney's Re: Joyce podcast enough, sadly he passed away before completing the project https://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/ https://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/
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- uqual 1y agoIn the 1970s I made the mistake of satisfying one of my general ed requirements by taking a one quarter class which covered _only_ Ulysses. The professor had done his PhD thesis on Ulysses and knew the page numbers (both in the edition he was using and the paperback version the students bought) of random passages even when a student came up with a question that was tangential to the immediate expected discussion. It was quite a challenge writing the term paper (which was most of the grade) knowing it would be evaluated by this professor. My attempts were mediocre and in exchange I received a well deserved mediocre grade (some sort of "B") in the class (sort of a "Ain't that cute that uqual tried so hard and wrote so many pages of related but nonsensical BS but at least he came to class" grade). It's safe to say that I will NEVER again read Ulysses!
- da02 1y agoWhat are some of the books that had the biggest impact in changing or developing your mind?
- dekhn 1y agoThe Odyssey, Moby Dick, Fire Upon the Deep.
- JimTheMan 1y agoI'm interested in the why for each, if you've got the time to write it out.
- dekhn 1y agoThe odyssey because it's the basis function for most of western thought (wily male human outsmarts gods, witches, and suitors on a long journey home). The best implementation of the monomyth, imho. Moby Dick because it's not just a book about whaling, it's a book about world philosophy with crazy tangents. Fire Upon the Deep because it is the best representation of post-singularity technological implications. Was a big inspiration for me going into machine learning and biology.
- zerr 1y agoHomer’s Odyssey as a prerequisite is the main obstacle.
- tianqi 1y agoHowever, the Odyssey is much easier to read than Ulysses.
- biorach 1y agoYou don't need to have read Homer
- adamwk 1y agoIt’s not a prerequisite though. Nor is Hamlet or any of the other works referenced. Very little will be missed if you haven’t read the Odyssey. It’s a book that stands alone on its own. Like anything else, Ulysses is inspired by other works, but you don’t need to catch every single reference or allusion to enjoy a book or movie
- jfengel 1y agoYou have to be familiar with it to appreciate the connections, but you don't need to read it. A good summary will do fine. Even the Wikipedia page is good enough.
- 6LLvveMx2koXfwn 1y agosomething, something, something, dawn, something, rosy fingers, something told you I'd read it!
- segfault99 1y agoJingle. Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway makes for a nice stream of consciousness study in contrast.
- everybodyknows 1y agoColorful gossip: It's been reported that Woolf disapproved of the morals of Ulysses.
- segfault99 1y agoIndeed. She called him a “queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples” after Ulysses.
- NoboruWataya 1y agoFor anyone who is curious about Joyce but doesn't want to take on Ulysses, I would recommend his Dubliners collection of short stories, which is much more accessible and still a really good read. I would love to tackle Ulysses, preferably with a good companion piece.
- CalChris 1y agoPortrait of an Artist as a Young Man is also approachable.
- jbm 1y agoI read Dubliners in CEGEP (Grade 12) and, while I didn't care for it much at the time, in retrospect it's impressive how I still remember the beats from "A Mother". Apparently the characters were based on people Joyce actually knew.
- zJayv 1y agoKenner is useful when it comes to Ulysses. Also map books. I don't remember using this particular volume but assume there are predecessors https://www.amazon.com/James-Joyce-Ulysses-Grafiks-Literary/dp/9198945653 https://www.amazon.com/James-Joyce-Ulysses-Grafiks-Literary/...
- b112 1y agoBetter to read about Ulysses in Ilium by Dan Simmons, a scifi book. Best if read without knowing the plot.
- billyhoffman 1y agoDuring my last semester at Georgia Tech, I had one remaining 3000-level English credit I needed to graduate. During the last week to register, I quickly found an open class titled "Modern Authors" and signed up. But when I attended the first day, I learned that Gatech's online registration system had truncated the class title. The full title was "Modern Authors: James Joyce", and I was the only engineering student in a semester long class about James Joyce, which I had to take it and pass in order to graduate. It was... pretty good actually. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man was enjoyable, as were his short stories. His style was unlike anything I had read before and it was musical in a way. However, I found Ulysses impenetrable: It rambled, and was difficult to understand what was even being described in the text, let alone the significance of it. Mostly it was just strange. Thankfully the majority of your grade was based participating in class discussion. Talking about it, seeing how confused everyone else was, and trying to make sense of it all together was a fun way to spend an afternoon in Skiles.
- arolihas 1y agoUgh Skiles, don't remind me. Being confused in that ugly building was a traumatic rite of passage.
- number6 1y agoYou should try Finnegans Wake. At this point, Joyce feels less like a literary giant and more like an elaborate inside joke among a select few.
- Simon_O_Rourke 1y agoNo, for the love of God don't try Finnegan's Wake. Take the 25 bucks you would have used to buy it online and do something better with it, like burning it in the trash can, or buying a North Korean memecoin with it.
- yaur 1y agoI'm sure I'll eat some donuts here, but Ulysses is neither an interesting nor a well written story.
- nilirl 1y agoMaybe pulp fiction has spoiled me but I found it unapproachable. I crave pace, parsability, and clear purpose.
- seanhunter 1y agoI would strongly recommend anyone who has a second-hand impression of Joyce based on articles like this just go and read Dubliners. Seriously. It’s an amazing set of short stories that are wonderfully-written, at times funny, moving, sad, haunting etc. It’s just incredible. It’s not a hard read at all and will enrich your life. I recommend it to basically everyone and several people have talked to me years later about stories in it. It’s fantastic. Then maybe read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A really great semi-autobiographical work. At that point you’ve probably made your mind up one way or the other about whether you like Joyce, so then if you feel like it, go read Ulysses and/or Finnegan’s Wake if you want to. But don’t do it because you think it will impress anyone or anything like that. Just read it if you want to. Before you read Ulysses, I would personally recommend reading a good modern version of Homer[1] because that’s just a great experience anyway and plenty of people don’t know the original story and so don’t understand the relevance of the title and are kind of lost before they even get started. [1] eg I’ve heard very good things about the Mendelsohn translation https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo243090734.html https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo243090... . I heard some excerpts from Seamus Heaney’s version read out and they were amazing and lyrical as you might expect but probably more “poetic” than most people might care for if they’re not already Heaney fans. I read an older translation but I can’t dig it out right now.
- liveoneggs 1y agoUlysses is on the same "reading level" (Lexile) as "Who is Lebron James" - 1050 - for advanced elementary and middle school.