/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2051108]

I heard such wonderful things about this book, so I checked it out.

How can you possibly get through it? I'm on page fifty, and my Language and Composition professor saw it, gasped, and told me a story about how she has tried reading it about four times, and each time she gave up due to the sheer amount of unusual vocabulary. She said it was probably the greatest book ever written, but she could never do it.

So, how many of you, honestly, have finished this? My God, it feels like a chore.

Pic related, the version I have.

[Anonymous No.2051121]

2051004

[Anonymous No.2051127]

I finished it. It wasn't that hard.

[VeiL !!LpJFJwZq2Js No.2051128]

Who gasps? Like for seriously though who does that?

[Anonymous No.2051138]

>>2051128
it was probably an orgasm

[Anonymous No.2051140]

>Language and Composition professor
>she has tried reading it
>she gave up

Sounds like a shit-tier college OP

[Anonymous No.2051144]

>she has tried reading it about four times, and each time she gave up due to the sheer amount of unusual vocabulary

But that's normal in a woman. They are generally stupid.

[None !WvWWh.l.CE No.2051147]

>reading difficult book in public

[Anonymous No.2051153]

I finished it OP and you should, too.

[Anonymous No.2051189]

>>2051144
damn pea brained females

[Anonymous No.2051199]

Never made it past page 100.

[Anonymous No.2051208]

>>2051144
damn pea brained females.
and op, it is an incredibly complex work. For example, it parallels the Odyssey, Hamlet, and a symphony by Mozart simultainiously. It is supposed to be a book you read after reading most of the world's literature, including the Bible, and then spend the rest of your life going back to and understanding it in different ways according to the time of your life. It is largely, among several other things, an invention of literary relativism and can be understood in many senses. This he took a step further with Finnegans Wake, which mathematicians can successfully argue is a study in abstract mathematics as well as Buddhists, New Agers, LSD heads, and Jungians can all validly argue is directly from the perspective they are coming from.

[Anonymous No.2051215]

>>2051189
>>2051208
hive mind

[VeiL !!LpJFJwZq2Js No.2051220]

>>2051215
Seven minutes apart?

[emoisntdeadiguess !aWWxqoVQJ2 No.2051239]

potriat of a artist as a young man i quite good op, just throwing that out there.

[Anonymous No.2051255]

There's a reason it's called "the greatest book nobody's ever read."

[Anonymous No.2051713]

if you really want to read it get a reader to go along with it and help you, however, it is so to speak a cherry on top after you've read most other classics (dante, homer, shakespear, bible, ect)

[Anonymous No.2051901]

I really enjoyed it. You can't expect to understand everything in it--there are probably even personal references that only Joyce himself knew--and you should use guides to help you with it. I doubt I could have read it without a guide. Also, know that chapter 3 is probably one of the hardest chapters, along with Scylla and Charybdis and the Oxen of the Sun, so at least make sure you get through chapter 4 before deciding whether you want to give up on it.

[Anonymous No.2051902]

I remember on Bloomsday someone on /lit/ posted a challenge: read it in 24 hours.
I got about 68 pages in, took me three hours. Stopped reading, haven't picked it up since.

[Anonymous No.2051918]

>people unable to read a goddamn novel in the academe
>Language and Composition professor
Enjoy your shitty adjuncts and community college.

Either I have some kind of superpower, or the difficulty of this book is greatly exaggerated. Like by this faggot right here: >>2051208

[Anonymous No.2051922]

>>2051902

I wouldn't recommend doing that. I once spent 12 straight hours working on this book, almost fell through the nebeneinander ineluctably.

[Anonymous No.2051941]

>>2051918
This. I got through the damn thing when I was sixteen with some ample use of a dictionary and looking chapter by chapter at an analysis in retrospect so I could see the important parts more accurately. I don't know how anyone can claim to love literature, but not be willing to dedicate themselves to a challenging yet rewarding book. It's pretty straightforward in the later sections.

[Anonymous No.2051948]

>>2051941

Yeah, some people actually teach this in high school and in Freshmen English classes. Reading it on your own at 16 seems intense, but doable. Though reading it that young, it's definitely the kind of thing you need to re-read years later to truly appreciate.

[Anonymous No.2051956]

I finished it. Didn't like it at all.

>lol2deep4u

I don't think it's that deep. It's just that the style itself is droll, with the possible exception of chapter... 15? That was somewhat enjoyable.

I guess the book is meant to be the culmination of all things Joyce, but I didn't like the rest of his works either.

[Anonymous No.2051986]

I finished it. I found it unenjoyable.

That doesn't mean I won't reread it in the future though. If this book is meant to be amazing and I got nothing out of it except disappointment, then yes, I will just have to try again.

Really though, my current opinion of it is that it's a load of indecipherable shit that people pretend to understand and enjoy to not lose face.

[Anonymous No.2051987]

Ulysses is the biggest joke perpetrated on the english literariti by other english literati.

Fuck James Joyce in his stupid face

[Anonymous No.2051997]

it is a chore, which is why joyce put so many sexy bits in it, to keep the reader insterested. honestly i find it to kind of being like a tasteless show off novel, yeah it's good, but it's like joyce is some overacheiver kid trying to impress everyone like "hey look at how smart i am look at how many references to obscure greek shit i can fit in one paragraph!" spare me.

[Anonymous No.2052284]

I think Pynchon beat Joyce at almost every level. I don't think this is an American bias, either. He just did.

[Sunhawk !M9PhF5nIzs No.2052292]

I've never read Joyce (ololololololllooolololoollllol), where should I begin? Artist, or Dubliners?

[Anonymous No.2052293]

>>2052284
Pynchon definitely had better content than Joyce, but I think Joyce as a pure artist is better than Pynchon, I do prefer Pynchon though because Joyce is too masturbatory.

[Anonymous No.2052295]

>>2052292
Dubliners, I don't think you will enjoy artist at all to be honest. Half of Dubliners would probably hold you down.

[Chilled !/Onur/VIBw No.2052299]

Sup pseudo-intellectual pretentious hipster ph4qq0ts

All good books are written, why even try?

Come to >>>/fit/ and get shredded so you might stop being all kissless virgins

Peace ph4qq0ts

[Anonymous No.2052301]

>>2051956
>It's just that the style itself is droll

[Sunhawk !M9PhF5nIzs No.2052319]

>>2052295

Explain, please?

[Anonymous No.2052428]

>>2052284