/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.8786500]

I'm taking a class next semester on James Joyce, and the plan is to read all of Dubliners, Portrait, and Ulysses by the end. I've never read Joyce. What am I in for? Is it even possible to read all of those books in one semester?

[Anonymous No.8786532]

>>8786500
>wondering if you can read three books in a semester
Your degree must not be literature related at all.

[Anonymous No.8786645]

>>8786532
Of fucking course it is. The thing is that I hear all three of those books are extremely dense and require a lot of time and effort to get a full sense of their brilliance. My question, more specifically, was: is it possible, in a semester, to fully grasp all of these books, without skimming, half assing, etc.

[Anonymous No.8786664]

>>8786645
>Read the books
>Read the critics
>Read the Joyce fanatics for some less popular interpretations
A month, tops, of extensive reading and you too can boast having read and understood Joyce among your elitist friends.

[Anonymous No.8786790]

>>8786500
You can read them in a couple days

[Anonymous No.8786834]

Ulysses is dense but definitely doable in a semester.

Dubliners is extremely straightforward (just depressing little stories about family) which just requires a few footnotes about Irish politics and that's it. This is probably the easiest one to get through.

Portrait can be easy or complex depending on how deep you want to get into it. Really it's just a story about a kid at school, there's nothing extremely dense about it, just some symbols/allegories.

The only Joyce that takes ages (and can never be fully parsed by anyone) is Finnegans Wake

[Anonymous No.8786954]

>>8786500
It's possible. Thought tbqh you could spend a semester on portrait and several years on Ulysses. Dubliner are a perfection of english style imo. In any case you are in for the greatest literary genius to ever live.

[Anonymous No.8786983]

are you at uccs by any chance?

[Anonymous No.8787197]

Dubliners and Portrait are great, but can be handled by intro students. Ulysses is more dense, but likely you will be spending a class on each chapter, which would take nine weeks in a class which meets twice a week.

Three weeks for basics and Dubliners, two weeks for Portrait, nine for Ulysses. Standard 14-week semester.

[Anonymous No.8787301]

Anon, I took a class exactly like this one (read Dubliners, Portrait and Ulysses in one semester) and it was plenty of time to dig into and fully appreciate all of the texts. My only advice is prepare your anus bc Ulysses is going to blow your fucking mind wide open and you're going to become the biggest, most obnoxious Joyceboy for at least the semester if not the following summer.

[Anonymous No.8787304]

>>8786500

Ulysses requires a full semester's study.

[Anonymous No.8787333]

>>8786834
This. I dont know why Dubliners gets hyped up as such a dense read. Each story's pretty easy to get through. The Ivy Day one is probably the most difficult just because of the politics, but even The Dead is just a story about a guy at a party.

I would assume the bulk of the semesters being spent on Ulysses, probably reading an episode per class, or maybe spending a couple classes on the tougher episodes (Scylla, Circe, Ithaca...)

Reading it quickly will be sick.

[Anonymous No.8787434]

>>8787333
The Wordsworth Classics edition has a very good glossary, so you only need to look up some words if English is not your native tongue or you're not used to read works from that time; but Dubliners reads smoothly, the one thing that might be trouble is the Irish-UK politics that pervade most of the stories, but I think you can omit that part if you're not interested in that, there's a lot to get from Dubliners apart from politics.

[Anonymous No.8787549]

>>8787333
>even The Dead is just a story about a guy at a party
And Ulysses is just a story about two dudes walking around Dublin. That's not why Dubliners is easy to read.

[Anonymous No.8787555]

>>8787549
If you're saying The Dead is as complicated and nuanced as Ulysses Im going to have to disagree with you

[Anonymous No.8787572]

>>8787555
What he means is the The Dead is mostly about Gabriel realizing his own mortality and shedding his affected surface to connect with humanity and realize he's never loved or be loved as the dead boy and Gretta have.
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe".

And what you mean is that the story itself is very straightforward and simple, the ulterior meaning is what's complex.

[Anonymous No.8787580]

>>8786500
> Is it even possible to read 3 in one semester

>Ulysses
that's a big book
>for you

[Anonymous No.8787812]

>>8787555
I am saying that your point (The Dead is fairly simple) is valid, but the logic you used to claim it is silly. Yeah, it's "just a story about a guy at a party," and Ulysses is just a story about dudes walking around Dublin. "Proteus" is just Stephen walking along a beach and seeing a dog piss. It's other factors entirely that make them difficult or easy, having to do with style and form.

[Anonymous No.8787996]

>>8786645
>dubliners
>dense
you overestimate 22 year olds