/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10981235]

What should I read before I read pic related? /lit/ always hypes it up, so I want to make sure I get the most out of it as possible and enjoy it as much as I can.

[Anonymous No.10981254]

When I was younger, I would have recommended picking up a general reader about Greek mythology and reading the Odyssey for context and The Portrait of an Artist to warm up to Joyce.

Now, having read it so many times, I recommend only reading through it your first time. Experience it. Become dizzy and lost and fractured like the voices and consciousnesses in the novel.

Then read it again, perhaps with some sort of guide for chapter structures with annotations: http://www.columbia.edu/~fms5/ulys.htm
Reread The Odyssey if you want.

It's just a book at the end of the day. Enjoy your time with it. :)

[Anonymous No.10981315]

>>10981235
>how can I put off reading hard books
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.10981320]

>>10981235
Dubliners
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[Anonymous No.10981344]

>>10981320
This, Ulys

[Anonymous No.10982411]

>>10981235
Everything in the thread + Hamlet

[Anonymous No.10982597]

>>10981235
Don't worry too much about preliminary readings, just throw yourself into it and enjoy it for the beauty of its language. You wont understand everything anyway. It'll help if your familiar with The Odyssey of course.

[Anonymous No.10982620]

Don't worry about the stigma around Ulysses. Jump in, take your time, savor the experience.

[Anonymous No.10982667]

>>10981235
Joyce references literally hundreds of different texts, so there's no way you can fully prepare yourself. Don't be intimidated or afraid to get lost, every does their first time through.

I would advise you to familiarize yourself with the story of the Odyssey and the Bible, as these are the two most often referenced works in Ulysses. Also read Joyce's Portrait and Dubliners, as many of the characters and locales reappear in Ulysses.

Here are some books that helped me understand it better, you can probably find most of them in your local university's library:

Harry Blamires - The Bloomsday Book, a episode by episode summary which will help you follow the events of the plot.

Stuart Gilbert - James Joyce's Ulysses, one of the earliest critical works on Ulysses, it also provides plot by plot summaries as well as some interesting original analysis by Gilbert.

Frank Budgen - The Making of Ulysses, an interesting account by a friend of Joyce, which includes some summarization, some interesting biographical information about the writing of the book and direct quotes from Joyce, and some of Budgen's own analysis which is surprisingly astute.

For more general studies of Joyce, I'd also recommend Anthony Burgess's critical works on him and Richard Ellman's excellent biography.

[Anonymous No.10982671]

The only book I threw away before finishing.

[Bill No.10982681]

portrait and dubliners will not help u but read the portrait anyway cause its rad as hell. the other guy is right tons and tons of allusions to crap so u will have to google tons of shite or maybe get an annotated version

[Bill No.10982690]

dont listen to retards on here that think its not worth reading cause they dont get the shit the shit is decipherable

[Anonymous No.10983507]

>>10981235
Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Odyssey and Hamlet are a must. If you've read this, you will at least understand the basic messages and motives.
Listing other required reading would take too long, because there are so many references to other works, both famous and obscure ones, but if I had to single out some stuff, it'd probably be Keats, Yeats, irish history and irish folk music.

[Anonymous No.10983540]

>>10983507
>Dubliners
Why? I know Stephen D is a character from Ulysses but Dubliners?

[Anonymous No.10983550]

Here's the offical list of everything you need to read before Ulysses:
A brief history of Ireland
Dubliners
A portrait of the artist as a young man
James joyce by richard ellmann
Hamlet
The odyssey
The bible
Hero with a thousand faces
Paradise lost
faust
Don quixote
Grimma fairy tales
sound and the fury
The sun also rises
Infinite jest
The 48 laws of power
Hittchhikers guide to the galaxy
House of leaves
Game of thrones
The electric koolaid acid test
Fear and loathing in las vegas
Tao te ching
Bossypants by tina fay
Pulp fiction: the screenplay
1000 movies to see before you die
Winslow homer: paintings
The letters of wolfgang amadeus mozart
The bradygames final fantasy 7 strategy guide

[Anonymous No.10983672]

You don't have to read anything to enjoy it. A child would love to hear it narrated I'm sure.

Portrait of an Artist could give you context into why he wrote it. Being very familiar with western civilization from the greeks to christian theology can help.