Has anyone actually read Ulysses (the Joyce one)?

I haven't read it.
I'm not going to read it.
I'm not going to be apologetic about it.

If I were going to tackle something daunting, I'd go for Proust.

I think this is kinda true, in the sense that no one snuggles down with Ulysses and reads it from cover to cover. It’s not like Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre (or even Middlemarch). It’s a book you wrestle with, dip into, re-read bits here and skip bits there. Don’t be ashamed of asking for help. Once you have a grip on what’s happening and how to read it parts of Ulysses are as easy as a children’s book. At least two thirds of the novel is very easy once you know what’s going on. And even the tricky chapters are pretty easy if you read a few guides. The bit in the maternity hospital, for example, where Joyce parodies/echoes the canon of British prose, is actually quite enjoyable. It seems incomprehensible gibberish at first glance. Once you know what he’s doing, however, it all becomes clear. The book seems more difficult than it really is. It’s not like trying to read Wittgenstein or Stephen Hawking. In fact, I’d say Ulysses is easier to read than Conrad’s Nostromo.

I've given up on Ulyssess after several attempts over the decades, feeling that it was one of those books you ought to read, like it or not. As a classically educated academic type oldie, it sounds as if it should be up my street according to some but sadly no, could not make headway with it and finally decided to give myself a pass on that one.
Can't abide stream of consciousness on the whole, though have made an exception for Iain M Banks' Feersum Endjinn...

Yes, more than once. I love it. My recommendation to anyone who'd like to read it but gets bogged down is to listen to the Jim Norton audiobook. It's really outstanding, he's a great reader with superb insight into the text. And if there's a bit you feel stuck on then the joy of an audiobook is that you can just let it wash over you.

One apology would have been enough!
Joyce's innovations in language waffle is so not my thing.

Oops dodgy WiFi here & it posted twice. Sorry!

@senua I apologise & should have used influenced by rather than derivative....but there are many many writers whose work has distinct influence of joyce's innovations in language - Anthony Burgess, Flann O'Brien, Edna O'Brien, Virginia Wolf (Mrs Dalloway - published after ulysses after she'd read (parts of) it. These are just a few....

I disagree entirely though that Ulysses was not original despite the parallel to the odyssey

@senua I apologise & should have used influenced by rather than derivative....but there are many many writers whose work has distinct influence on joyce's innovations in language - Anthony Burgess, Flann O'Brien, Edna O'Brien, Virginia Wolf (Mrs Dalloway - published after ulysses after she'd read (parts of) it. These are just a few....

I disagree entirely though that Ulysses wa not original despite the parallel to the odyssey

@senua I apologise & should have used influenced by rather than derivative....but there are many many writers whose work has distinct influence on joyce's innovations in language - Anthony Burgess, Flann O'Brien, Edna O'Brien, Virginia Wolf (Mrs Dalloway - published after ulysses after she'd read (parts of) it. These are just a few....

I disagree entirely though that Ulysses wa not original despite the parallel to the odyssey

it never ceases to AMAZE me how derivative so many other books are
Other books are derivative of Ulysses?
It's not exactly original itself, being a re-telling of the Odyssey.

Absolutely not. I've read the entire Odyssey in Greek (degree) but gave up on Ulysses early doors.

I joined an online tutorial & joined a group of people reading it, it was led by a staff member from Trinity College Dublin.

The reading group was 2 (sometimes 2.5 hours) each week & we read it over 18 weeks. In between online sessions we read an episode each week in advance so we could discuss it

Apart from night town which we read over 2 weeks as its so Iong.

It was truly a life changing experience for me & i am very very deep down a Joycean rabbit hole ever since.

So much so that I have attended a number of events including Bloomsday in Dublin & The James Joyce Summer School in Trieste - one of the most interesting weeks of my life!

I'm actually doing the online reading course again this year & we're up to Aeolus this week. I have plans to go back to trieste to the summer school again this year too.

Since reading Ulysses I have not read anything else that doesn't relate to it in almost 2 years. I have read MANY books but they all relate to it.

It's taken over my brain like some kind of magic & I have no interest in other books - they're all pretty dull for me by comparison.

Last year I was grappling with the structure & plot etc but this years deep reading is even more pleasurable as I'm able to focus on the language more & im really understanding it though there's stuff to learn each time of course

For me it is simply the best, most intriguing, most relevant book I have ever read.

I am not an academic (& agree with a pp who says any English literature academic who says don't bother reading it is not one I'd have any respect for) & I did not study English at university. I considered it but went a different path in the humanities.

Now that I'm so familiar with joyce's writing (I've read everything & started FW) it never ceases to AMAZE me how derivative so many other books are, how far his influence has spread & how often references to ulysees crop up everywhere from books to films to TV

His achievement was utterly extraordinary

Once for uni.

Like most people who have read it, I read it as part of my Eng Lit degree. In fact I read it while Inter railing in pre- kindle times, as I only had space for one book in my rucksack. I lost my left luggage ticket in Paris and was able to reclaim it by telling them there was a Belfast library copy of Ulysses in it.😁 I found it pretty tough going, but I finished it.

I would be very impressed if anyone had finished Finnegan’s Wake though. My lecturer told me it took her ten years, and to understand it you really should be fluent in at least six languages including Sanskrit. I know there is a reading group that does a couple of pages a month. So can anyone claim it apart from the singular poster above? Prove it😁

I agree with @MaxandMeg . You need to dive in and treat it as an experience rather than a book. After some unsuccessful attempts I took my dad’s advice to treat it this way, and loved it.

I read it a couple of years ago, starting en route to Australia, so didn't have much else to do, which helped, no distractions.

I mostly enjoyed it, but some sections are better than others, and the dream sequence is tedious beyond anything. Molly is wonderful.

Exactly this, I didn't even do English lit and I love it.

If you want to read it I'd do the first 200 odd pages, which are very much like a normal book, then just do 20 pages a day until it's done. There are sections which drag for me at least, so the first time I needed a plan to get though it.

I read it for my degree - in fact did a whole module just on that book. Only clicked into place when I went to the local library (not the uni library) and found some kind of A-Z of James Joyce which had really clear explanations of his obsessions. Then ended up loving it. Obv cannot remember a thing about it now 20 years on other than the pigeon scene and the orgasm scene

Not me, I think it's meant to be dipped into, and read aloud. There's a recording of Joyce himself I think floating around, of the beginning. It is fun to pick out the smattering of German, Latin and romance languages.

Love Dubliners though.

Like others, I read it as a literature student. I vaguely remember the beginning. The end is far more striking and the bit everyone remembers, and I can probably dredge up a few quotations from the rest if I try. That's it. But I did read it from beginning to end.

I read it last year, just because I was intrigued. I found the start heavy going, but once I got into it, I loved it! The use of language is wonderful and I loved the humour. I think it probably helps if you have an Irish and/or Catholic background.
I think it's a wonderful mixture of ideas and I did enjoy it. The end is something else!

@PandaPacer oh thanks alot ! This is very helpful !

Yes, for an English degree, but with a lot of guidance. I'd have gotten nowhere if I wasn't having tutorials and guides on how to read it. I still don't love it. Its impressive, but I can think of novels that are impressive, profound and accesible. Midnight's Children for example. To me that's more of an accomplishment.

@Tilly22222 oh cheers I didn't know he did that , that might be a tad more accessible for me. I loved The Dubliners and tried Ulysses years ago and thought I was very stupid as I couldn't make hare nor tale of it and had a very pompous boyfriend at the time who scoffed at me ! I love Irish literature and have always felt why can't I get Joyce , so may I will try the Bishop Brennan option !!

I have almost finished reading it for "enjoyment" and do feel like I have a good grasp of it. I am not a scholar or associated with any kind of academia!

However I had some guidance from a friend of mine who is a Professor of Literature before I started. There is a podcast called "Reading Ulysses" by two experts who walk around Dublin following the novel's locations and talking about what is going on in the book and what was happening in wider Dublin at that time. It also highlights all the amazing loops and cross references Joyce made within the book. These would have sailed right by me. There's also extracts from the novel and some music as well - it's surprising how many musical references there are in the novel.

There is one podcast episode per chapter. There is a lot of action in the book that is contemporaneous to the time period it was written, and unless you lived in or studied that era it would go over your head! They are funny and very knowledgeable and say things like "this chapter is impenetrable - this is where most people give up so just keep pushing on". I listen to the episode before and after I read each chapter to make sure I understand what is going on. Highly, highly recommended.

I really feel like I have not been reading Ulysses, I have been studying it. And I am quite proud of myself ha ha!

https://www.rte.ie/radio/dramaonone/plays/2022/0124/1275562-reading-ulysses/