Ulysses by James Joyce

[badger11]

This is the most difficult book I have tried to read, but I will struggle on, despite no engagement with characters and no narrative to engage. Why? The surface, the unusual diction choices in particular, and because I feel it a defeat not to persevere. Anyone else read Joyce's Ulysses?

[David W. Parsley]

Phil, we must have some sort of psychic connection.  I completed Derek Walcott's Omeros over the holidays and decided it was time to re-attempt Ulysses, after abandoning the attempt a dozen years ago.  I am on page 105 and am finally starting to engage with some of the characters.  It helps that I swallowed my pride and have decided to avail myself of online resources, some of which are quite good.  But I do not consult these resources until after doing all that I can with a section on my own first.  I find it interesting that I sometimes disagree with the commentators' interpretation of the action and even the symbolism.  My motives up till now have mostly been like yours.  Don't let "Proteus" stop you from getting to the part where Leopold Bloom comes in - gets better from there, at least for a while.

I  have found the following sites to be helpful companions:

The Joyce Project : Ulysses : Home

Omphalos in Ulysses | The Omphalos (wordpress.com)

Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Telemachus/007 - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Omphalos in Ulysses | The Omphalos (wordpress.com)

It is a slow, methodical, but rather absorbing read.

[badger11]

Many thanks for those links David. I feel I may revisit earlier chapters. I've started the 'Sirens' chapter. I like Bloom, but the rest don't connect.