So, I want to read this one

So, I want to read this one...

Do I require preparation? What should I know beforehand?

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start with the greeks

Why do you want to read it?

Know that you'll fail many, many times.

This is a book deep inside the mind of a man who spent his life writing and creating stories, tales, sitting in pubs drinking and immersing himself in the culture of Ireland.

Us as petty Americans (and other countries) can never truly know this experience, and people who aren't Joyce will never understand everything he meant to say. That's kind of the brilliance of it- Joyce was a profoundly Romantic author in his later works. He didn't write to entertain and delight, but to express himself as thoroughly and honestly as he could. Ulysses, along with Finnegans Wake, is a novel that isn't mean to be "understood" (if that's pretentious enough). It's meant to be enjoyed, and it's supposed to make you feel what Joyce felt. There are, of course, some parts that make perfect sense. But Joyce plays with everything.

If you're going to read this novel, bring a copy of the Odyssey with you. Joyce pretty much paraphrased the Odyssey (almost word for word) in this book. It's a modernized adaptation of the Odyssey about a man's travels in Ireland (specifically Dublin).

Don't expect to understand everything. Not even the academics do. My english professor has read the novel hundreds of times and says he finds something new every time. Maybe there's a little piece of it that Joyce didn't understand, too.

Such is Ireland.

Ive had this sitting on my shelf for 2 years but I've been too scared to open it because of what seems like a meme where it's apparently so widespread and difficult to read and understand that it requires in depth lengthy preparation, can someone explain this too me ? Is it that it just references basic Greek literature and reading those before hand would help or is it beyond just that ?

see Go back to your safe space and read tumblr fanfic

Why do people want to read Ulysses first? If you don't already have a grounding in the Western canon, the Greeks, and modernism it'll be useless. You're supposed to read Joyce last, he's the final boss of literature.

>Do I require preparation? What should I know beforehand?

>This thread again

The main things are to know a bit about Irish history and Irish politics of roughly the early 19th -early 20th centuries. It also doesn't hurt to be acquainted with Irish writers like Wilde and Yeats. Understanding Catholicism/the catechism, and some Shakespeare may also help.

Honestly mate, just thoroughly read this wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland_(1801–1923) and get an annotated copy of the book. I recommend Penguin's annotated student edition, which is expensive but worth it I think. It also has a nice introduction.

>If you're going to read this novel, bring a copy of the Odyssey with you

Not essential. The Odyssey thing is a framing device and it's not even as essential to getting anything out of Ulysses as knowing the Irish writers or Shakespeare. In fact the Odyssey titles were officially dropped from the episodes because Joyce was afraid people would look too much into the Odyssey thing.

Oh, also Read Portrait of the Artist before Ulysses, OP.

Ahem, why do you want to read it?