Oh, Niles. Never change. Well, you can't change, since the show is over.
For those of you out there who are all WTHHC (what the holy house cat, obvs) is she talking about, I SHALL HOLD FORTH:
James Joyce's Epic Work That Is Actually A Bit Decipherable (GO SIT IN A CORNER, Finnegan's Wake, WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU) is Ulysses, a modernist retelling of The Odyssey. Ulysses all takes place in one day, June 16th, 1904. It's a sort of stream-of-consciousness...odyssey...of the main character Leopold Bloom through Dublin. Ergo, nerds the world over have knighted June 16th of each year as Bloomsday.
What happens on Bloomsday, you might ask? Drinking! AndalsoreadingofUlyssesbutIsuspectitsmostly drinking! For serious, some people read the whole book today. Those people are the Platonic ideal of readerly gusto. I am a lazy person who has to work today. With those powers combined, I will celebrate by gathering resources and maybe reading the first chapter. For those who want to do a serious readalong today, check out these goings on from o at delaisse.
The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses by Harry Blamires. This is a chapter-by chapter breakdown of the book, with a little bit of literary criticism thrown in. It's mostly a line-by-line summary and commentary. This is what I'll turn to if I don't know what the eff is going on.
Ulysses: Annotated by Don Gifford and Robert J. Seidman. This is essentially a word-by-word annotation/close reading of the book. This is what I'll use when I can't remember what effing Homeric reference is being used, or what language he's speaking (IS THAT LATIN ON THE FIRST PAGE ZOMYLORD).
WHAT RESOURCES, you ask? Or maybe you don't ask. Whatever. Fine.
The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses by Harry Blamires. This is a chapter-by chapter breakdown of the book, with a little bit of literary criticism thrown in. It's mostly a line-by-line summary and commentary. This is what I'll turn to if I don't know what the eff is going on.
Ulysses: Annotated by Don Gifford and Robert J. Seidman. This is essentially a word-by-word annotation/close reading of the book. This is what I'll use when I can't remember what effing Homeric reference is being used, or what language he's speaking (IS THAT LATIN ON THE FIRST PAGE ZOMYLORD).
So yeah. I am PREPARED. I don't usually PREPARE this much, but I also don't usually read 700+ page modernist epics. So. I'm sure this one will take me awhile (apparently this is the Year Of Reading Books That Take Forever Because They Require The Brain Piece), so I'll be giving periodic updates.
Anyone else reading along with o, or doing your own Joycean thing today (drinking/reading/readingwhiledrinking)?
Great resources, thanks for sharing! :D
ReplyDeleteI'm a little bit scared by Ulysses, but I promised myself (a long time ago) that I will read it in the next five years. And I WILL DO IT! I WILL!
(Yes, I'm trying to convince myself).
I need these resources. I should have had these resources. A part of me: "Damn right, I understand this part, hell yeah I win at life", the other part: "Hnnh?"
ReplyDeleteDoing a marginally better job than I did six years ago. Marginally.
I haven't read Ulysses since graduate school, but what I remember most about it was that it was actually really funny. And I remember thinking, regarding many elements of the book, "Holy crap, you can DO THAT?"
ReplyDeleteHappy Bloomsday! I will be celebrating by NOT reading Ulysses, but by gloating in the knowledge that I recently finished the whole book, finally. Finally finally, that thing took me 7 months to read and I am vaguely scarred (due to my ignorance and how hard it was to understand much of it) but also happy to have done it.
ReplyDeleteI've got the second book you picture above, but what I really wanted was the Bloomsday book! I also have an annotated Oxford edition of Ulysses. I have to work today as well, but I'll probably be reading the first chapter.
ReplyDeletePS! Don't miss out on this podcast of Ulysses:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ulysses
You know. Even if you're just going for a snatch of it, like me. :)
I have the Gifford book too. And some wine. (Should that be Guinness? Or whiskey?) I find that the more I visit the wine, the less I need the Gifford. In any case I'm not going into this unprepared :D
ReplyDeleteI wish I had wine! All I have is left over brandy from the Christmas cake :(
DeleteHappy Bloomsday! I am joining in the reading fun (craziness), but I'm still in the Introductions of both books (Ulysses and Gifford's annotations), so...
ReplyDeleteI love that GIF of Niles. Good stuff.
Woo hoo! I got one of those annotated kindle versions that I think is supposed to be for younger students ... apparently it's based on the Gifford annotations but it's a little bit dumbed down, haha. Like they explain what the most basic literary terms are. It's kinda cute. Also nice because I don't have to put any effort into understanding the explanations and "interpretations" ...
ReplyDeleteDon't think I'll get to it right now, but I'm going to bookmark this and try to complete the same project soon. How can I not have read Ulysses yet?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. It inspired me to rush to my library to get Ulysses plus the 2 books you recommend here. I studied part of Ulysses decades ago, and remembered enjoying it a lot. 'But today, and I hope I'm not a downer here, I went through some of the first chapter, and even with the great 2 resource books you highlighted, I definitely took the decision that Ulysses was NOT for me. so long Ulysses, enjoy your trip
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to have been born on Bloomsday. Now I just have to read this.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Ulysses is difficult, I always felt that at heart it was a pretty fun, silly, light, even juvenile (in the best sense: generous, liberating, laughing) book--not to be taken like medicine or church. Too much scholarly annotation could kill the joy, so use it in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI did read some brief cliff-note style summaries just to get clear on the basics (the characters and settings), but at the end I found once I stopped stressing over whether I knew what he was talking about in every line I enjoyed it.
I did read some guides and commentaries *afterward*, and they were interesting and should be enlightening the next time I read it. But I'm glad I didn't read them first. The literary professorial class--who have a vested interest in maintaining the Joyce Interpretation Industry--have convinced people there are deep meanings found only through obscure footnote level knowledge. But Ulysses is a beautifully pagan, sensual, superficial novel. The obscure references are usually to trivia: soap adverts, contemporary jingles, daily detritus, fart jokes, not profundities. Sure, classical literary and mythological references are in the mix, but not in any really deep way. It's too much fun for that.
You might look into this commentary on Ulysses. I haven't read it yet, but the author tries to make the case that Joyce intended it to be a work to be enjoyed by ordinary people, not the learned.
http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Us-Everyday-Joyces-Masterpiece/dp/B005DI9PG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340023634&sr=8-1&keywords=ulysses+and+us
Although Ulysses is difficult, I always felt that at heart it was a pretty fun, silly, light, even juvenile (in the best sense: generous, liberating, laughing) book--not to be taken like medicine or church. Too much scholarly annotation could kill the joy, so use it in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI did read some brief cliff-note style summaries just to get clear on the basics (the characters and settings), but at the end I found once I stopped stressing over whether I knew what he was talking about in every line I enjoyed it.
I did read some guides and commentaries *afterward*, and they were interesting and should be enlightening the next time I read it. But I'm glad I didn't read them first. The literary professorial class--who have a vested interest in maintaining the Joyce Interpretation Industry--have convinced people there are deep meanings found only through obscure footnote level knowledge. But Ulysses is a beautifully pagan, sensual, superficial novel. The obscure references are usually to trivia: soap adverts, contemporary jingles, daily detritus, fart jokes, not profundities. Sure, classical literary and mythological references are in the mix, but not in any really deep way. It's too much fun for that.
You might look into this commentary on Ulysses. I haven't read it yet, but the author tries to make the case that Joyce intended it to be a work to be enjoyed by ordinary people, not the learned.
http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Us-Everyday-Joyces-Masterpiece/dp/B005DI9PG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340023634&sr=8-1&keywords=ulysses+and+us
Which translation of The Odyessey?
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read Ulysses, but I enjoy Richard Thompson's cartoon commentary on it: http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/2011/06/happy-early-bloomsday.html
ReplyDeleteI think I'll have to wait for another Bloomsday to start Ulysses, though.