[Vanity] Suggestions on reading Ulysses

NOV-30-2014 | Self

[re_nortex]

I'm well into my 70s and checking off an item on my bucket list is finally getting around to reading Ulysses by James Joyce. It was never assigned reading in high school or college (I went to a Christian school, which may be one of the reasons). So, at my advanced age, I'm attempting at long last to tackle this work.

I have a long attention span and am not easily bored nor discouraged. I've read long, involved books and have found most of them gripping, such as The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Faust by Goethe and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

But I may have met my match with Joyce's work. I'm only up to page 36 where Deasy and Stephen are conversing and, frankly, it's just not clicking this far and reading seems like a chore in contrast to Mann where I couldn't wait to turn the page.

Given that the smartest people in the world congregate here, are there any suggestions about pressing forward on this book? Was it maybe proclaimed a "classic" by leftists and, in reality, just isn't worth reading? Or am I approaching it wrong? The lack of quoting and Joyce's strange punctuation add to the challenge.

[notted]

I agree about his earlier work; (Dubliners) * etc., the reason I even thought I could read Ulysses, was because of (Portrait of the Artist)*. It is far more accessible and enjoyable.

* haven’t learned how to italicize yet.

[SamAdams76]

Read episode 1 and the part about Haines shooting a Black Panther reeled me in.

[aspasia]

Will it pay the effort? If not, you can surely pretend!

[aspasia]

!

[Fightin Whitey]

Ahh you are too kind. I've been a steady reader since childhood, but I've never been learned, never deep, really only a reader of what I've been waiting for or what I can't push aside.

You sound like one with more drive and smarts and more likely to give it a real run...if you are really digging it, let us know, maybe a few will follow your example.