biblioklept.

org
How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses (and Why You Should Avoid "How-to" Guides Like
This One)
Bloomsday, an annual celebration of James Joyces Ulysses, is upon us today with m
ore excitement than ever. Even with the festivities, the books reputation for den
sity, erudition, and inscrutability still daunts many readersleading to a glut of
guidebooks, summaries, and annotations. Ironically, rather than inviting firsttime readers to the text, the sheer volume of these guides to Ulysses can parado
xically repel. Their very existence seems predicated on an intense need, and alt
hough some of the guides out there can be helpful, others can get in the way. Th
is need not be. Ulysses deserves its reputation as one the best books in the Eng
lish language. It generously overflows with insight into the human experience, a
nd its very, very funny. And, most importantly, anyone can read it.
Here are a few thoughts on how to read Ulysses, enumeratedbecause people like lis
ts:
1. Ignore all guides, lists, maps, annotations, summaries, and lectures. You dont
need them; in fact, they could easily weigh down what should be a fun reading e
xperience. Jump right into the text. Dont worry about getting all the allusions o
r unpacking all the motifs.
Pretty soon though, youll get to the third chapter, known as Proteus. Its admittedly
hard to follow. You might want a guide at this point. Or you might just want to
give up. (Of course, you might be a genius and totally get what Stephen is thin
king about as he wanders the beach. Good for you). If frustration sets in, I sug
gest skipping the chapter and getting into the rich, earthy consciousness of the
books hero, Leopold Bloom in chapter four, Calypso. Its great stuff. You can always
go back to chapter three later, of course. The real key, at least in my opinion
, to reading (and enjoying) Ulysses is getting into Blooms head, matching his rhy
thm and pacing. Do that and youre golden.
Ive already advised you, gentle reader, not to follow any guides, so please, igno
re the rest of my advice. Quit reading this post and start reading Ulysses.
For those who wish to continue
2. Choose a suitable copy of the book. The Gabler edition will keep things neat
and tidy and it features wide margins for all those clever game-changing annotat
ions youll be taking. Several guides, including Harry Blamires The New Bloomsday B
ook align their annotation to the Gabler editions pagination.
3. Make a reading schedule and stick to it. The Gabler edition of Ulysses is nea
rly 700 pages long. Thats a long, long bookbut you can read it in just a few weeks
. There are eighteen episodes in Ulysses, some longer and more challenging than
others, but reading one episode every two days should be no problem. If you can,
try to read one episode in one sitting each day. As the book progresses, youll f
ind yourself going back to previous chapters to find the figures, motifs, and tr
aces that dance through the book.
4. So youve decided you need a guide. First, try to figure out what you want from
the guide. Basic plot summary? Analysis? Explication? Theres plenty out theretoo
much reallyso take the time to try to figure out what you want from a guide and t
hen do some browsing and skimming before committing.
The most famous might be Stuart Gilberts James Joyces Ulysses, a dour book that ma
nages to suck all the fun out of Joyces work. In a lecture on Ulysses, Vladimir N
abokov warned against seeing in Leopold Blooms humdrum wanderings and minor advent

ures on a summer day in Dublin a close parody of the Odyssey, noting that it would
be a complete waste of time to look for close parallels in every character and
every scene in the book. Nabokov scathingly continued: One bore, a man called Stua
rt Gilbert, misled by a tongue-in-cheek list compiled by Joyce himself, found in
every chapter the domination of one particular organ . . . but we shall ignore
that dull nonsense too. Its perhaps too mean to call Gilberts guide nonsense, but its
certainly dull. Harry Blamires The New Bloomsday Book is a line-by-line annotatio
n that can be quite helpful when Joyces stream of consciousness gets a bit muddy;
Blamires explications maintain a certain analytical neutrality, working mostly t
o connect the motifs of the book but letting the reader manage meaning. Don Giff
ords Ulysses Annotated is an encyclopedia of minutiae that will get in the way of
any first time readers enjoyment of the book. Giffords notes are interesting but
they can distract the reader from the text, and ultimately seem aimed at scholar
s and fanatics.
Most of the guidebooks Ive seen for Ulysses share a common problem: they are obtr
usive. I think that many readers who want some guidance or insight to aid their
reading of Ulysses, rather than moving between books (what a chore!), should lis
ten to some of the fantastic lectures on Joyce that are available. James Heffern
ans lectures for The Teaching Company provide a great overview of the book with s
ome analysis; they are designed to be listened to in tandem with a reading of th
e book. Frank Delaney has initiated a new series of podcast lectures called re:J
oyce; the first lecture indicates a promising series. The best explication Ive he
ard though is a series of lectures by Joseph Campbell called Wings of Art. Fanta
stic stuff, and probably the only guide you really need. Its unfortunately out of
print, but you can find it easily via extralegal means on the internet. Speakin
g of the internettheres obviously a ton of stuff out there. Ill withhold commentif y
ou found this post, you can find others, and have undoubtedly already seen many
of the maps, schematics, and charts out there.
5. Keep reading. Reread. Add time to that reading schedule you made if you need
to. But most of all, have fun. Skip around. If youre excited about Mollys famous m
onologue at the end of the book, go ahead and read it. Again, the point is to en
joy the experience. If you can trick a friend into reading it with you, so much
the better. Have at it.