Since this is the second most popular book on this board...

Since this is the second most popular book on this board, and also one of the most complex and layered works of literature of all time, I think it might be a good idea to put together a reading chart of books that should be read first in order to maximize understanding of its various references and parodies in the style of the "Start with the Greeks" chart.

I can put the chart together, but I'll need some help deciding which books would be most important for the chart. The Odyssey is an obvious starting point but after that I have no idea how to narrow it down.

Off the top of my head I'd say that one would have to be familiar with Homer, the other Greeks, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Byron, Blake, Shakespeare, Aquinas, just about the entire western canon now that I think about it.

nuh uh
alls you need is Ulysses Annotated if you want to be an absolute sperg about it

I'm pretty sure that already exists. I didn't save it but I'm sure I've seen it before.

Why you people even like this book is beyond me. Incredibly overrated.

The Western Canon

The bare bare essentials are:
>the odyssey
>hamlet
>a portrait o t artist

Infinite Jest, of course... probably his short stories too, ie Oblivion. Maybe Broom of the System if you really wanna go back. The Pale King is okay but probably best for after.

Hope this answers your question! Good luck with the chart user :-)

...

Wtf, Aquinas? What parts of the Summa?

>dude references lmao

>lmao
that was literally his goal

Here's the offical list of everything you need to read before Ulysses:
A brief history of Ireland
Dubliners
A portrait of the artist as a young man
James joyce by richard ellmann
Hamlet
The odyssey
The bible
Hero with a thousand faces
Paradise lost
faust
Don quixote
Grimma fairy tales
sound and the fury
The sun also rises
Infinite jest
The 48 laws of power
Hittchhikers guide to the galaxy
House of leaves
Game of thrones
The electric koolaid acid test
Fear and loathing in las vegas
Tao te ching
Bossypants by tina fay
Pulp fiction: the screenplay
1000 movies to see before you die
Winslow homer: paintings
The letters of wolfgang amadeus mozart
The bradygames final fantasy 7 strategy guide

kek

Ulysses is sooooooooooooooooooooooo overrated. Tee bee etch

Why would someone write a book just about references?

Flann O Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds

STOP GIVING A FUCK ABOUT THE REFERENCES

Calling the book "allusive" or describing it as some Over-Text of the history of Western literature is largely an obnoxious academic meme meant to justify the reams of useless paper spat up about this book each semester. Yes, it's full of references. Yes, knowing the references can increase your enjoyment of the book. But this is only a tiny portion of the enjoyment that the book can bring and receives undue attention because of the psueds and careerist professors who flaunt the book as "difficult" as if reading one of the most popular novels in history puts them into an elite club of the initiated cognoscenti who have entered a realm of esoteric knowledge inaccessible to the peons who have yet to devote themselves to "truly" ""understanding"" the Book.

anyone who has an interest in creative usage of language and the ability to commit to a more difficult than usual reading experience can read this book. if you find yourself completely at sea and unable to follow the plot, then check out the Bloomsday Book, which is simply an account of the plot, but if you obsess over finding all the references and allusions in your first read-through, the novel turns into an unenjoyable morass of micro-allusions perpetually escaping any man's natural abilities of recognition.

if you prepare yourself ahead of time in every possible way to understand Ulysses, then you miss out on perhaps the most meaningful experience the book has to offer: that of rereading it at various points in your life to discover deeper and deeper webs of meaning born of reflection against your previous understanding of the book as well as the events of your life that have changed your perception. the point is to integrate what you already know into how you experience the book; to think that there is some threshold at which you will finally "know enough" to "be ready" for the book is nonsense, the ghost of the priest's derision bent on sublimating every possible experience into a single orthodox interpretation.

Remember: Stephen Dedaelus is only one half of the novel: if one were to follow in his footsteps in constant search for pre-ordained academic/pseudo-religious "meaning," you are locked out from the joys of natural life open to Leo Bloom. Stephen is constantly being blown the fuck out throughout the novel in his scrambling to show genius. be like Bloom instead--find enjoyment through love of characters and the simple joys and sorrows life throws at you. these things can be steeped in allusions if you can pick up on them, but only as a supplement to the meaning already there. you'll never back yourself into meaning by attempting to intellectualize yourself into it

Not the same user, but Joyce does reference Aquinas a lot. A general understanding of his work should be fine.

The Odyssey is actually unimportant compared to many other so-called prerequisites and you should not be doing this, give the book a damn read you autist

Is this pasta? This is really good

could it truly be
could Ulysses be, dare I say it, the Family Guy of literature?

even if this is just a meme I agree with this so much

This

>Incredibly overrated.
>Ulysses is sooooooooooooooooooooooo overrated.
>the Family Guy of literature
Goddamn it Veeky Forums, get your shit together.

Holy shit, you're right. Ulysses really is like Family Guy.

Stately, Plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: Introibo ad altare Dei.

--God, said Stephen. Seeing that razor is worse than that one time I visualized my priest as a butcher! (Flashback to Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man hell scene and Dedalus sitting there--pause on the scene for the punchline).

--Come up, Kinch! Come up, you fearful jesuit! Solemnly he came forward and mounted the gun rest, and then caught sight of Stephen Dedalus. Man, he said. You look worse than Hamlet! (Flashback to Hamlet saying more than kin and less than kind and Gertrude and Claudius looking at him solemnly while pausing on the punchline).

--For this, O dearly beloved, is the genuine Christine: body and soul and blood and ouns. Get it? Blood and ouns? Come on? You don't get it? You get it.

He peered sideways up and gave a long slow whistle of call, then paused awhile in rapt attention, his even white teeth glistening here and there with gold points. Chrysostomos. Remember the Greeks? (Flashback to Dion Chrysostomos and St. John Chrysostomos hanging out at a pub, where Dion asks St. John: "Wanna smoke a bowl?")

this is a good post

Posts like these are why I still come to Veeky Forums

Saved

Just read what you want but make sure you pay attention.

This whole "start with Greeks" or " read THESE before you read THIS" thing is stupid. I have to imagine it was designed by autistic people who NEED an ordered structure to things or feel like they're leveling up.
I'm not saying it's bad to start with Greeks or to read up on everything that could have inspired an author before reading their book, but there's also nothing wrong with being more organic about things and diving into whatever you want

luld

God I love you user

>cognoscenti

I've never heard this word before but I love it. thanks user

retard chart. absolutely retard.

>recommending the whole summa for a superficial reason such as better understanding a single fiction work
it will maybe help, but I wouldn't say it is all that necessary. if you want, read the concise summa instead (400pg long, written by aquinas himself)

>chamber music
only to introduce you to joyce, not necessary at all

>recommending protrait before divine comedy and summa after the divine comedy
if you want to read the divine comedy, read it before portrait, there is a HEAVY influence by dante's inferno on portrait, and if you want to read summa, read it before dante.