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Original poster

Have you read Ulysses?

205 replies

ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 17:46

Or War & Peace?
I read Ulysses a few years ago but since then I've read a lot about it & now feel like I would like to reread it..

Just wondering if many others have read it?

OP posts:
orangeflags · 29/05/2023 20:08

Yes both of them. I used to be a big reader before the internet turned my mind to mush

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 29/05/2023 20:09

Loved War and Peace, read it twice (10 years apart). Never read Ulysseus though.

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 20:10

@Maireas I really recommend it + the Joyce Centre has some v interesting artifacts.
I wondered if it would be dumbed down on the walking tour but it wasn't at all. And some of my fellow 'walkers' were highly informed & massive joyce fans so lots of interesting chats.

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Books
JayAlfredPrufrock · 29/05/2023 20:13

I have an English Lit degree and I’ve never got past the first chapter of Middlemarch.

londonmummy1966 · 29/05/2023 20:16

I've read W&P and really enjoyed it. Started Ulysses but hated it so put it down. IMO its not a patch on the Odyssey which I enjoyed despite having to read it in the original. I'd recommend anyone wanting to read Ulysses to read the Odyssey first.

WakeMeUpWhenGoodOmensIsBack · 29/05/2023 20:16

DH has an obsession with the great unreadable male novels and has read Proust, Moby Dick and Ulysses several times each. The only one which he made sound tempting is Moby Dick, which does sound entertainingly batshit.

The only two of the Great Male unreadables I've read are Tristram Shandy (brilliant and loads of fun) and Paradise Lost (brilliant in its way but eyewateringly misogynistic).

You're all making War and Peace sound quite fun. I might try and watch a TV/film adaptation first to get the characters straight in my head (it's the only way to get through Middlemarch) and do myself a crib sheet of the various names.

jotunn · 29/05/2023 20:20

War and peace is really good.

I've never managed to read Ulysses but have listened to it - there was a brilliant RTE (I think) production a few years ago which is on audible.

Vexxa · 29/05/2023 20:23

Can anyone recommend a good translation of War and Peace? I loved the BBC adaptation but struggled with the book and I do wonder if it was partly that the translation was a bit clunky.

continentallentil · 29/05/2023 20:29

I did in sixth form and enjoyed it.. I think the County Girls lead me to it somehow

W&P I read in my 20s, enjoyed that too, but skipped through a few of the agricultural diversions

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 20:32

@continentallentil and of course Edna O'Brien was a lifelong huge Joyce fan.
I also love her writing. Country girls was a very influential book to me when I was young.
As was the writing of John McGahern! Another incredible writer

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FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 29/05/2023 20:33

The Briggs translation, Vexxa. It's not clunky at all. It's very readable. I did the War and Peace readalong last year and enjoyed the book and the chat about it. I might read it again sometime.

I don't know Ulysees at all. I studied Portrait in school and I read The Dubliners. I borrowed Finnegan's Wake on a whim from the library once to see what that was like. Absolutely no clue what was going on. Complete gobbledegook.

bringbacksideburns · 29/05/2023 20:37

I hated it. I think I was another one who ‘had’ to read it for college/Uni and I just gave up. Got to some toilet bit and thought it was like punishment and just not for me.

Maybe as it’s 30 plus years on I should try again but then I think life is too short when you could pick up something that fills you with joy or interest!?

Maireas · 29/05/2023 20:40

Yes, don't read anything because you have to. I just picked up Ulysses out of interest and loved it. Couldn't get on with Finnegan's Wake, though.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 29/05/2023 21:05

Apologies. Ulysses.

margegunderson · 29/05/2023 21:18

Yes. Also War and Peace at 13. Read a lot as a teen.

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 21:24

@margegunderson did you read ulysses as a teen too? If so do you think you got the breadth of references? This is a genuine question- not intended as a diss in any way.
I read it in my early 20s & in one way I read it as in I read each word woth my eyes but truthfully 99% went over my head at that stage. And probably that's fine too.
Now that i understand so much more about the technique/ schemata / context I'm keen to reread it so see now what I make of it all.
30 years since i first read it. I love to do this with books i read in my teens / 20s

OP posts:
margegunderson · 29/05/2023 21:25

At uni when I read Ulysses - probably 19. I'm sure I missed a lot, yes. Must have another go!

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 21:28

We should start a reading group!

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PinkLazyApple · 29/05/2023 21:30

I really should read Ulysses as my great-great-grandfather is mentioned in it (name changed as it's outing)

I've read about 1/3 of War and Peace and should go back to it. It's certainly more readable than Ulysses.

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 21:31

Ooooh @PinkLazyApple that's amazing!

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Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 21:32

Hope he wrote nice things about your great great grandfather- though quite possibly not Shock

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PinkLazyApple · 29/05/2023 21:34

Not mean but not exactly complimentary either! One of his sons is also mentioned, so he'd be my great-grand uncle.

MMAMPWGHAP · 29/05/2023 21:36

I’ve listened to both of them on Audible. Started (& enjoyed) W&P after reading the thread on here suggesting a chapter a day for a year.
Ulysses was harder. I think I let sections of it wash over me. Definitely easier as an audiobook though.
And both good value for 1 credit.
Am considering starting Middlemarch soon.

Original poster
ValentineGreen · 29/05/2023 21:36

I'm impressed!

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MelonsOnSaleAgain · 29/05/2023 21:40

No. I read The Dubliners for English lit a level and my teacher sucked every moment of any enjoyment out of me and I swore I’d go nowhere near James Joyce ever again 🤣