Is this really that difficult?

Difficult to appreciate, yes. Difficult to begin, no. This book was meant to be read. But remember what Joyce says...

I can't find the quote. But he essentially says that he writes in such a way that you have to dedicate your life to appreciating- it's so magnanimous. I dunno. He liked blowjobs. How can u not read a book that's touted as the greatest of all time by Nabokov AND the author like his knobbed slob. I need to get off this site immediately

Alright. References were what worried me. I've read A Portrait and Dubliners and I really like Joyce. How intense are these allusions? My background in literature is decent but my knowledge of philosophy is shaky.

t. hasn't read ulysses

you should not listen to that guy lol

It's difficult to read because it's so poorly written.

I read it and while reading The New Bloomsday and it helped with most of the references.

Its actually one of the most perfectly written books. The references and style are the main bulk of the difficulty. Just because a book isnt like something youve seen before, doesnt mean its poorly written or bad.

Alright, I'll check it out. Thanks.

Why not listen to him?

Yes and no.

It's possible to read it all straight through, be bored a lot, not understand 98% of the allusions, but still understand the basic plot and what went on and ultimately appreciate how beautifully written it is. At parts. Because that's what happened to me. I have a rough idea of what Stephen and Bloom and everyone else did during that day and what happened to Paddy Dignam (spoiler alert: he dead), etc., but still don't know what the fuck hoopsa boy hoopsa means.

Is there a version with footnotes so you can better understand the references?

I tried reading it a few times, never finished it.

I want to read this.

What do I have to read before reading it?

The entire Western Canon. I'm almost not even joking.

I mean he can't possible reference every single Greek and Shakespeare play right?

Joyce was hyper-autistic, I don't think that would be unrealistic

what does it matter if he does

The answer to that question depends on what you want to get out of it; bar a few 'trouble' sections (Proteus, Oxen and the Sun, Penelope, etc) a reading can be as difficult as you make it. If you get hung up on every reference, and there will be times something is obviously an allusion but you can't decipher it, then you might have a rough time. Same if you want to plot every character's movements and motivations out perfectly the first time though. But apart from the sections I mentioned, Ulysses is a surprisingly readable book. And armed with the barest of pre-reading--Odyssey, Dubliners, Portrait--one can understand both the plot and gain at least a good grasp on the main themes of the novel.

I would suggest getting a version like the Oxford World Classics, which has decent notes and reading a chapter at a time, recapping at the end with the notes at the back. If you don't understand an obscure reference to 19th century Irish politics, or astronomy, or whatever, just keep moving. Assuming you're young like most people here, you have a lifetime left to read the book and suss more out each time. The biggest problem people have with this book in my experience is the often narcissistic/lazy need to have understood the whole thing back to front in one go.

If you have the patience, you'll read it, it's not unreadable though you won't understand most of it. You can get the plot pretty much but it's not very relevant. You won't understand most of what Joyce wanted to say because of the refferences.
I suggest you just jump straight into the book and don't read anything before it just to prepare because it won't really help.
It's an interesting read in a way. You can just read it through and just be over with or you can make this book a hobby and spend your whole lifetime figuring out the refferences, deciphering every line if you actually want to understand it.
It's a puzzle.

the footnotes are all on wikipedia, just keep the scheme close and you'll be fine.

The allusions in Ulysses are just bells and whistles, it's a novel primarily concerned with style and language. If you know how to read complex modernist prose where form meets sense you will be absolutely fine.

It's only difficult for little babies who didn't get a full classical education.

>references and allusions
What do yall mean by this? Show me an example. You talking bout literary-philosophical references? I enjoyed Ulysses and I could only get the Homer and Dante related ones desu.

>get
Same as if penetrated, eh?

It must penetrate your mind.

How was it being some upperclassmen's fag?

Sure thing, Cebes

It was very Greek.

t.John Green fangirl

For example during Scylla and Charybdis, i believe it was Mulligan who places the words said by one of the men there (Best or Eglinton, idk) in another sentence, which comes from Yeats. It had something to do with the characters being related to the Irish Revivalist movement and Mulligan placed their words between the lines of Yeats as a joke. That sort of stuff is all over the novel.
Or the teacher which Stephen speaks with in Nestor says "Put money in thy purse", Stephen says "that's Iago". The reference being that Iago is ofcourse the vilain in Shakespeare's Othello, hinting that the teacher is a vilain.

There's plenty of time where Stephen goes into an argument about Aristotle, Plato and Aquinas, with other people and within his own head.

Either you didn't count these as reference or you didn't read the book.

So there are references only in Stephen's chapters?

The Western Canon is actually the answer, but you can still understand some of it and get some enjoyment even if you didn't read most of it.

It is like the Divine Comedy, I get some of the references to the Greeks and Romans, but I don't know shit about Middle Age's politics, but it is good poetry nonetheless; not knowing every city every king Dante references is not that much of an obstacle to appreciating it..

what about the science section?

Oxen of the sun is difficult. Some people found proteus difficult.
if you can get past the third chapter you can read the rest of it.