Just started Ulysses for the 5'th time. Never managed to finish it, I am honestly terrified...

Just started Ulysses for the 5'th time. Never managed to finish it, I am honestly terrified. The book itself is quite difficult, but I think most of my fear comes from what I project it to be after reading countless works on this book and dwelling way too deep in what people say about it. How do I "unlock" myself? Is there anything that could possibly help me?

Know that Joyce wasn't nearly as brilliant as people wish he was, and that the people who deify him are not even particularly smart. They tend to be exaggerators, because it's fun to be exuberant about stuff you like and read too much into it. You can handle him. Stop trying to read the "right way" and just read it. You're not going to magically comprehend it all, but here's a secret: no one can with any work, even simple ones. Nevertheless, you can understand *most* of it, and that understanding will only grow and change as you do. Also, maybe prioritize your interpretations first. You can think for yourself and still have an open mind.

Just dedicate time to reading every day and hold yourself accountable. Don't think about speed just think about continuing to read. Consistency is key.

first two sentences there were a little shitty, but I agree with the rest.

Finish it once, then read more critical analyses.

Just read without trying to understand all of it. If you come to something that makes you feel like pic related, just read it again, maybe twice more, and then just keep reading.

>5'th time

kek yourself, my good man.

>Paying any attention to the Frank Zappa of Literature

>5'th time
Ulysses is not for you

>implying Zappa was not good

...

>The pseuds coming out to suck the cock of their beloved ruse master Joyce
i laugh every time

Zappa was one of the best artists in rock history, so it's a fair comparison

I just started reading a translated version of Ulysses

Im making a huge mistake right?

Its a book about a cuck. Why would you even read it?

I rolled it in a roll thread

Who's a master writer?

>>>r/books

Just read it? Don't read anything else, just read it. By the way there's some general culture required. If you have no culture, you won't understand the references. Either read it or don't.

More like in COCK history.

zappafags btfo

>general culture
gallicism

This.

The key isnt to figure out what the author intended, the key is to figure out how it makes you feel, what this book means to you.

I have found that Weldon Thornton's Allusions in Ulysses to be an excellent resource to understand WHAT the events that are referred to in the book are (e.g. when someone makes a passing reference to Parnell and O'Shea, the WT book gives a concise summary of the relevant scandal)

I have gotten a great deal out of this book, even though I have almost nothing in common with its characters.

That would be Pinecone (though he's a bit too DUDE to be Zappa, who never did anything harder than nicotine).

james joyce was a schizophrenic ha ha ha

Hey bro. I'm reading Ulysses now and i'm at page 600/700. Once i got over the page 200 bump everything went easier... Except for the chapter where they discuss shakespeare. IMO the book gets absolutely magical at page 400-600 (at the beach, in the whorehouse). When you get to that point you already know how to read it "unlocked".

Also you only ask questions you know the answer too. Same here. You unlock yourself by phenomology and openness towards your own impressions of the parts of the book which you never read before.

why do you restart it just continue where you left off lmao