[sun surfer]

Oy, I didn't think the thread title would give so much confusion!

Originally Posted by BelleZora

It was The Satanic Verses that sparked my belated desire to read James Joyce. Incomprehensibly even to me, I really wanted to understand what Rushdie was trying to convey. Apparently that is not possible without first understanding Lucretius, Ovid, and James Joyce. I read The Odyssey long ago and enjoyed it, but it seems I must read it again before tackling more of Joyce.

Reading is both a joy and a torture. God help us.

The more you know of the Odyssey, the more you may pick up in Ulysses, but now that I've read Ulysses I realise reading the Odyssey first isn't really that essential, especially if you're already familiar with it. It is nice to have a general idea of the various sections of the Odyssey since the chapters of Ulysses are named after it and are sort of structured around it, but that's only one part of it. I'd say Joyce densely uses hundreds if not thousands of various references, allusions and structures (I found that out from my attempt with the ultra-comprehensive Ulysses Annotated) and unless you're using said annotations, it's nigh impossible to catch even half of them. The strategy that finally worked for me was to give up trying to understand even what was going on at times let alone references and such, and it was still a battle. But the good thing is that with so many references and the like, you're bound to still pick up on a good bit of them despite all the ones you may miss, which was probably more along the lines of Joyce's intention anyway.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Congratulations! What an accomplishment! I appreciated your description of how you managed to conquer it.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by issybird

Good for you, sun surfer. It's a lot to take on independently. I first read it as a freshman in college, which helped a lot, because of both the exigesis and the compulsion. I tried it again a few years later, to see how it went on my own, and was happy to discover that it's a good story, but the initial exposure made a big difference.

I haven't been very tempted to dip into it since, however, and Finnegan's Wake is a book too far for me.

Thanks, issybird. I can imagine reading it for a class and discussing it with others would be a huge help, but I'm amazed you've had a go at it twice. It reminds me of the saying, "Thank you, sir; may I have another?" Seriously though, it's impressive. I did love the book though and now that I know what's coming and understand the structures for the different chapters and the basic story, in a second reading I could pick up on things I missed the first time and spend more time enjoying the various parts, which it sounds like you had the pleasure of on your second reading.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

...I must admit I read it a few years ago - some parts had to be skipped for my sanity, but otherwise I enjoyed it. What was it about again !

Oh, you know, this and that.

Originally Posted by hidari

Well done....what is next????

War and Peace

Gravity's Rainbow

Don Quixote

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

keep up the pain...... or the pleasure…..

Thanks. Heh, those sound like pieces of cake compared to Ulysses. I’ve read War and Peace and it is a long but much much easier read. I’d also guess Don Quixote and Tristram Shandy would be much easier too. Not that any of those are easy at all, just that they aren’t in the same league of labyrinthine complexity as Ulysses. I've heard Gravity's Rainbow is difficult but if it’s harder than Ulysses then that’s quite a feat. Anyway I’d love the pain and pleasure of reading them all eventually.