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/lit/ - Literature

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18150653 No.18150653 [Reply] [Original]

Hello frens, I want to read Ulysses but I'm ESL, I have read some novels and essays in English, which I could tackle well enough with a dictionary at hand, but I don't want to buy the book only to get instantly filtered by it.
I think I read here that Gifford anotated edition is great to get a sound understanding of the work, but would it be understandable by an ESL with a C1-C2 level?
For reference, hardest book in English I have read was Walden, and other than some words I had to look up I read it fairly easily and greatly enjoyed it.

>> No.18150673

>>18150653
Read the fucking book you subhuman and decide for yourself

>> No.18150727

>>18150653
Wouldnt recomend it.Try Portrait of an artist first. Ulysses starts deceptively easy but it goes off the rails so much i could not understand what i was reading in the chapter that i just read two different summaries of

>> No.18150791

>>18150653
honestly the book is so hard that not speaking english probably won't make much of a difference either way

>> No.18150817

The book is in the public domain, you can download it free as an ebook or you can pick up a wordsworth edition for a few dollars. Read a few chapters on your phone or whatever for free before you commit.

I would suggest you read:

-The Odyssey
-Hamlet
-Portrait of an artist

Before tackling it though.

>> No.18150871

>>18150653
>>18150817
The more you read, the more you get from it. Joyce tried to write something that was the End of the Novel. Or what it could possibly evolve to. It is very dense with allusion.

If you read it without other context's it will see like gibberish.

Read the Odyssey and Portrait. Use these websites as well:
http://m.joyceproject.com/info/aboutnotes.html
http://www.ulyssesguide.com/
http://www.james-joyce-music.com/ulysses.html


Overuse of annotations disrupt the flow the book. The book is full of references to music of the day as well. So constantly flipping to annotations for every sentence is pointless.

>> No.18150892

>>18150871
Also have a general understanding of the politics of early 20th century ireland along with some knowledge of Catholic rites. There is lots of references to Mass or reactions to the Church.

>> No.18150951

>>18150817
>>18150871
>>18150892
Thank you, anons. I have only read Dubliners by Joyce so I will try to tackle Ulysses once I'm done with the portrait then.

>> No.18151024

>>18150817
Definitely those three + some introduction to celtic mythology

there's a shit ton of references to Greece besides the Odyssey tho, so any amount of Greek literature is going to make the experience better.

>> No.18151132

>>18151024
Yes. And even a light appreciation of opera can help. Stabet Mater, Don Giovanni or the appreciating a fugue helps with one chapter in particular.

>> No.18151142

read more first.
If there is one book you shouldn't read like a retarded academic with dictionary and notes is ulysses, having to stop all the time is going to suck and missing all the great humor won't help either.

>> No.18151153

>>18151142
The humour is pretty shit & hard to get. I never understood the U.p / UP stuff that was occasionally mentioned. Or the Hamlet chapter was incredibly shit or the one when he is in the newspaper office. I don't get why he wrote it.

>> No.18151164
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18151164

>>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!

>> No.18151171

>>18151164
>on my first read
Just to clarify: reading Ulysses multiple times was the best way to read it for me. First time I didn't get much, but I got through the whole of it. Second time was much better and has been getting better ever since. The more you re-read it, the more you understand, the more incredible it becomes.

>> No.18151188

>>18151171
It is a lot effort though but its a book I think that will stay with me a long time. A very rewarding read. I read the original 1922 version which could have been a mistake. It took me 1-2 months. A chapter a day was a hard to maintain.

>> No.18151215

>>18151188
Yeah I tried to do the same but chapters like Oxen and Circe were very difficult. I have to say, I also did one read of a translation in my native language, and that sort of helped getting through some parts. Circe for instance was one of the easiest chapters to read in my home language, although I found it almost impossible in the original. But definitely a rewarding read. It is probably my favourite book to get back to. Once you get familiar with the text, it just keeps getting better, you notice things you didn't notice before and it becomes deeper and deeper.

>> No.18151234

>>18150673
This. >>18150673

>> No.18151443

>>18151153
>The humour is pretty shit
lmaoing desu

>> No.18151454

>>18150951
Based, I will start to read Portrait soon too.

>> No.18151564

>>18151153
>Or the Hamlet chapter was incredibly shit
It was literally a discussion of literature fused with Stephen's anxiety
Have you never discussed your theories with anyone?