Is anyone else actually reading this, rather than just memeing about it?

Is anyone else actually reading this, rather than just memeing about it?

I just finished Chapter 3 the other day. Supposedly it's called "Proteus"? Anyway, I didn't think it was as hard as most people make it out to be. It certainly was beautiful, though.

I've always thought the whole "Ulysses is incomprehensible" thing was at least half a meme. Then again, I live in Glasgow, which makes all the cultural allusions and city geography a lot more accessible than to most people I guess.

You don't even know the name of the chapter, let alone its significance, and you're telling me it's easy? The only reason you think it's easy is because you have virtually no idea how much information is going over your head right now.

Somebody (I can't remember whether it was an actual critic or just a shitposting user) said that the Homeric allusions to the odyssey were of tremendous importance to the writing of Ulysses but are of minimal importance to the reading of it.

Just finished it last week, certainly a monolith of a book. I read it spread out over 5 months because after some chapters I needed to read fluffy normal shit to come down lol. The best is yet to come OP. The thing is though it's possible you will really hate certain chapters, they vary so immensely in style that sometimes they won't hook you. Don't let that stop you though it's so worth it.

>le superficial journalism obfuscate as much as possible chapter

>but it's supposed to be boring!

Who are you quoting?

y'havta reaD Joyce's Ulysses 20=times

easy to read =/= easy to understand

Wait until Oxen m8.

I just got to the last episode, safe to say it's my all time favorite by now

I am currently readIng it.
I die like most of what i read but some parts where hard to get through

It depends on what kind of understanding you're going for. If you think it's easy in terms of understanding what is going on with the character, what he's doing etc then yes it's easy to make out he's walking on a beach, looking at people and contemplating his own consciousness and so on. What's difficult about it is to fully understand what he's talking about and implying such as the nebeinander, the diaphane versus adiaphane and all of the obscure allusions like the agenbite of inwit.

Of course it's easier nowadays to just look these things up and see them explained and say "ah yes I get it" but truthfully in order to fully understand these things you must read their sources and until then a full understanding of the novel is not possible, but being able to understand the events, the characters etc is definitely possible on a first read without being some Ivy League academic.

>truthfully in order to fully understand these things you must read their sourc
or just get an annotated version of the story.

This is largely true. It helps to understand the structure and underlying themes of each chapter. However the depth and range of influences, puns, and allusions far exceed a modern casual readers breadth of knowledge. Guide books were absolutely necessary for my real understanding.

I find that Ulysses has a great difficulty arc going through it. The chapters in the first part start shorter and simpler, building up to the complexity of chapter 3. And yet, chapter 3 is relatively short and simple compared to other portions of the book, and chapter 4 goes back to the prose goes back to the familiar style of the first and second chapters.

The book masterfully prepares you for reading it, which in my opinion makes it more succesful than both a portrait and finnegan's wake, as those drop into the difficulty head on without much of a breather inbetween.

But Portrait literally just increases in difficulty, in almost equal amounts, each chapter.

Currently reading, over 400 pages in. Some chapters are okay, you can understand what you are reading if you focus enough. Some chapters are a fucking torture, there were a few where I had no damn idea what the hell was going on.
Not a native english reader so that makes it even more difficult. Or maybe not, I don't even know if third of these words actually exist or are they created by Joyce.

It's not that hard as some put it but it takes some patience and I'm not really sure if it is rewarding. I'll keep on reading though, not that much left.

It's difficult to understand, but not difficult to enjoy.

I just started it and I'm beginning to believe I need to go back and read more Greeks to get this

I'm reading it. Also not a native english speaker.
I'm reading one chapter every weekend because i'm lazy and it's quite tiring. I agree with , sometimes i don't even know what's happening.
Usually on the weekdays i go and reread almost the whole chapter again. I understand it a lot more, and that second time is more enjoyable, extrapolating, a third time would be the best book ever i guess.
I just finished syrens.

Oh, also I am listening to the Re:Joyce podcasts by Frank Delaney, but i'm quite behind yet. They're great