Thought about reading pic related. Do I have to read anything beforehand?
>>7845923
The entire western canon. Then you'll be halfway there.
ulysses cannot be read. only re-read.
>>7845924
But that's a meme
>>7845923
Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist and a beginner guide to Catholicism.
>>7845923
Start with the Greeks.
>>7845924
Wh-what?
>>7845923
'You should approach Joyce's Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith'.- Faulkner
ignore all these losers, they want to keep it elite so they can be cool having said they've read it
you can read it with little to no background in literature, you might find it tough, but its reputation is way overblown
it's super enjoyable and i got my mom to read it with no trouble, my mom being not much more a reader than one who checks a mystery out from the library once a year
there are significant allusions to homer's odyssey, but simply knowing the tale will be enough to catch these
of course the novel is riddled with allusions to works from all through the western canon, but this is by design, it is also riddled with references to irish culture, references to happenings of the date it takes place on (june 16, 1904) and is written in a style deeply drenched in colloquialisms -- to fully understand ulysses as it were, is not the 'point'
enjoy the playful language, the humanist observations, and the mythic found in the everyday and you will get near as much out of it as anybody
(have some guinness while you read too!)
>>7845924
this
>>7845942
Damn you're such a selfless friend to the ignorant proles of the world. I hope you continue take those pretentious idiots to task for daring to recommend prior reading - the nerve of them! I know that the benefits to reading 'Portrait' first couldn't be more obvious as Stephen Dedelus is literally in both, but we just can't continue to let these elitist gatekeepers do this shit, you know?
>(have some guinness while you read too!)
You're a fucking cornball, mate.
it can be read by (almost) anyone, you don't need to get the all references and a degree in classics to enjoy it.
>Her antiquity in preceding and surviving succeeding tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting by her appointed times, waxing and waning: the forced invariability of her aspect: her indeterminate response to inaffirmative interrogation: her potency over effluent and refluent waters: her power to enamour, to mortify, to invest with beauty, to render insane, to incite to and aid delinquency: the tranquil inscrutability of her visage: the terribility of her isolated dominant resplendent propinquity: her omens of tempest and of calm: the stimulation of her light, her motion and her presence: the admonition of her craters, her arid seas, her silence: her splendour, when visible: her attraction, when invisible.
>I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes
>>7845972
i'm perfectly fine with being a cornball
yeah, the daedalus connection is obvious, but I don't feel it much affects one's reading of ulysses not to see where daedalus came from
i'm trying to address the OP only insofar as whether or not he 'has to' read anything before ulysses. from his post it sounds like he's pretty set on the book already and would prefer to dive in if possible and i gladly tell him to go for it
>>7845923
Portrait of the Artist
is the one thing you must read before it. The Greeks, Irish politics, catholicism, Hamlet, all that boils down to cultural background.
>>7845942
>fixating on the Odyssey
You either didn't read it or didn't get it you. Of all the prior works to read the Odyssey is probably one of the least important and the formal framework using it is incredibly minor to understanding the book. Allusions to it as minimal.
Love it when plebs expose themselves so easily.
>>7846011
The entire book is Odyssey turned upside down, you retard.
The wanderings of Bloom who doesn't wanna go home, the unfaithful Penelope that is Molly, then Stephen who is waiting for a fatherly figure like Telemachus did.
Then minor characters like Mr. Deasy who is a modern Nestor.
Well done exposing yourself.
>>7846011
and yet it's the only allusion that does make up the formal and thematic framework
what single parallel is more important to ulysses than bloom and odysseus?
>>7846064
He tried to sound patrician, but failed.
>understand basic narrative of the odyssey
>portrait and dubliners should be read as an intro to joyce. they're really good and portrait is a prequel of sorts to ulysses
>irish catholicism and the culture surrounding it
>greeks and romans etc.
>a chapter wherein stephen discusses hamlet and other shakespeare
you can go in dry, but at the very least, read portrait and follow a guide such as the new bloomsday or even sparknotes to get what's going on. any asshole that says their mom with no reading comprehension 'got it' is a lost cause. have fun.
>which opera is most like a train track?
>the rose of castille (cast steel, haha, get it??!)
It would help to read Hamlet as well, I just finished Scylla and Charybdis and its essentially one long conversation about Hamlet and Shakespeare. I really didn't grasp much of what the conversation was about to be honest, very challenging chapter for me.
>>7845942
this
one of the best posts about this book I ever read on this board
>>7846011
fuck off
>>7845923
I quit after 10 pages it was sooooooooooo boring
>>7847512
Push past the Stephen bit until you get to Bloom. Things will get easier then, I promise. Do it, you'll love it!
>>7847369
scylla and charybdis is the worst chapter in the book
op just skip it desu
>>7847540
Penelope is by far the worst chapter in the book. It was like listening to my stoned ex room-mate talking on the phone.
>and then I was all like yes and yes you know like yes
>>7845923
Where can I buy this edition that is always posted on lit ?
>>7847540
Ya I feel like I could of just skipped it, when I finally got to wandering rocks I was reminded of why this book is so great
>>7847672
>50,000$
lmao nevermind
>>7847675
Just started Wandering Rocks, it's incomparable to Scylla & Charybdis. The latter just seemed like /lit/ spouting theories on Shakespeare.
>>7847747
Ya I can see that lol, I like Stephen but he's pretty heady. Alone his inner monologue is generally nice but with people his insecurities make his thoughts race and it gets very hard to follow.
>>7845923
Spend a few days on Wikipedia learning about Irish history and Judaism
>>7847683
pleb
If you aren't a humanities major it won't be fun
>>7847908
this
>non-humanities
>human
>>7847683
I've seen facsimiles, decently-priced
>>7846133
suggestions on where to research irish catholicism?
>>7845923
>>7845923
>>7848178
lmao
>>7845923
I just dove in my first time OP. Just accept the fact that you won't ever get every last bit of meaning out of it, especially on your first read, and just focus on enjoying it anyway. If you insist on preparing yourself, reading the odyssey, hamlet, and APotAaaYM are the basics, and having at least a basic working knowledge of the bible and the greek philosophers wouldn't hurt either.
>>7845923
Hamlet, Aristotle, Odyssey
(Not memeing)
I'm a few chapters in. I didn't start with much "background," but I am used to reading dense material.
My advice advice is just go for it. It's really entertaining, especially if you like a challenge.
