Hey, to those who have read this:
Did you read it with any sort of help—annotations, end notes, a guide?
I'm wondering how necessary notes are.
An annotated version would be incredibly helpful to a first time reader.
>>8111671
I initially tried reading it with notes but quickly became over-reliant on them. I decided it was best to put the notes away and use google if something was really bugging me.
But honestly, Ulysses isn't that difficult. The only people who are going to have problems are those who read it with the, "I have to prove my intelligence," mentality.
>>8111698
That's interesting that you feel notes were actually a burden. I can imagine that, if you mean you didn't like your reading being interrupted all the time, or felt like you didn't give yourself enough time to think about things because the "answers" in the back were too tempting to resist.
You said that Ulysses isn't that difficult. Are you from the UK? I imagine the language and the references are less of a problem if you're from that area. I'm American.
>>8111719
Yeah, Joyce's prose is incredible, and I felt like I was breaking the flow by constantly flipping back and forth. I realized I was treating the book too much like one of those sodoku books, constantly checking and rechecking to make sure I understood something right.
Also, I'm American. Instead of getting flustered, I just had to accept I wasn't going to understand everything.
>>8111671
Just get the Oxford original text edition. Chapter notes and end notes if you need them but they aren't marked in the text and aren't obtrusive. There are also chapter summations and analysis but that's more if you're a drooling babby and can't understand a paragraph or get lost, at which point you should probably just put down the book.
>>8111671
I actually bought an app with annotations that I found to be pretty helpful. I also read Shmoop summaries alongside it. I feel like I got a lot out of the book from doing that. Don't be too intimidated, anon.
>>8111749
try reading a full chapter or passage and then go back to look at the notes
>>8111671
just read it. no nothin. but i plan to read it again many times with annotations notes etc.
>>8111671
I read it on its own, plenty so already, and consulted the Gifford annotations every few chapters. Found few of them necessary -- they rather made pleasant curiosities, since I wasn't interested in more than a basic understanding of the political context, nor in the more irrelevant cultural references.
There might be better annotations, but unless you are studying the book I would say you can dispense with them. That said, if the version you have doesn't add any chapter titles, I'd advise looking up the Gilbert/Linati schema (either after reading the sections or, if you're a fast reader, at least after reading the book), either for the structural insights (the Odyssey layout is not essential) or just to be able to discuss it, since that's how people refer to the chapters.
>>8111671
It's not that hard really. If you want read a chapter's summary before going into it and then get carried away by the beautiful prose without worrying about getting what's going on. I am a non native english speaker and I didn't find it as challenging as people make it out to be. Plus Ulysses is a book you will read more than once in your life, so the first time get through it without trying to get every reference, it still is an extremely enjoyable experience.
What's the best edition to get boys?
The Enda Duffy intro one seems really nice and I'm not too concerned about the quality of the notes, I might get a companion book.
pic unrelated
Read the Sparks notes summaries of the chapters. That's all you need.
Unless, of course, you're a petty manchild who's never read Homer or Shakespeare, in which case you won't be able to 'get' this book simply because it wasn't written for the likes of you.
>>8111671
I used my professors note's. I made use of at least a thousand of them.
>>8113054
bumpiugn i need to knoww
