/lit/ - Literature

>>18150653
Hi fren, ESL Joyce lover here, I am using the Ulysses annotated student edition by penguin and is working fine for me. For further support, on my first read I also used pic related, which was rather useful. In general, I suggest you go through a rough summary of the chapter and read very slowly and with patience. In terms of vocabulary the book is manageable (Oxen was maybe the hardest part), but you have to get used to the style, and an annotated edition can help you wrap your head around that. As some anon suggested, maybe reading Dubliners and Portrait first (which are more readable), can also help. Overall, though, if you take it slow and persevere it's entirely doable. Have a good read!

>>17647983
Finnegans Wake is on an entirely different level. For Ulysses, my advice is to go for multiple reads. First time you will likely need a guide, I'd suggest the New Bloomsday Book if you want something cheap to start with. Second time will be more enjoyable and so many times to come after that: once you start having the handle of what is happening in the chapters, many, many details will reveal themselves to you. But you need to take it slowly and go over the text multiple times. Truly, for me Ulysses is less a text you "read" or "study" and more of a text you "play with". Even the average reading session should involve, in my opinion, going back and forth to re-examine paragraphs. At least, this is how I enjoy it. But you need to at least read the whole thing once to start having real fun with it.

Same is true for Finnegans Wake - only, way harder. There's a hypertext online breaking up the words (finwake.com) and The Skeleton Key is good place to start. I had tried to have a reading group going in here about it, but it didn't fly. If you check the archives, however, there might be some bibliographical advice. I took some from here: >http://fractiousfiction.com/fwtoolkit.html
Tindall is good, Ellmann is generally great for Joyce in general, including Ulysses.
Also, a trick that really worked for me for FW was reading it out loud. Subvocalizing wasn't enough especially because words sometimes have weird spelling for things that become perfectly clear when spoken out loud.

However, anon, if you haven't read Portrait yet, start with that. It's less challenging than Ulysses, and it sets out Stephen as a characters. It is an incredible book, and really helps you get through Joyce.
Don't give up! I also had to reread it, but it was easily the most rewarding reading experience of my life.

>>15694906
It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.