Best Companion Book to Ulysses

[Book Carpenter]

I'm trying to get a girlfriend of mine to understand why I think Joyce is so good. I can't explain it, other than to say that the writing is just brilliant - it is as good as any other that I've read, probably. As a writer, the writers that I read that really "recharge my batteries" and get me going are Joyce, Checkhov, Faulkner and Shakespeare.

My girlfriend has an i.q. of about 160, so she's smart enough to understand Joyce. But Ulysses, as you know, can be hard to approach. What do you think is the best companion book to help explain an "open up" the world of Ulysses? Right now, I think its Frank Budgen's James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses, but I don't know for sure,...

Thanks.

[Schokokeks]

Hi there! :)

This would be my pick:
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521545536
Though I haven't read it from cover to cover, I've scanned through it when I was doing an essay on Irish literature, and I found the chapter on "Ulysses" very accessible.

Good luck for your mission of persuasion :D.

[Virgil]

http://www.amazon.com/James-Joyces-Ulysses-Reference-Guide/dp/0313316252/sr=1-4/qid=1166040718/ref=sr_1_4/104-8664191-5934366?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520067452/ref=pd_cp_b_title/104-8664191-5934366

http://www.amazon.com/James-Joyces-Ulysses-Stuart-Gilbert/dp/0394700139/ref=pd_sim_b_3/104-8664191-5934366

http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Cliffs-Notes-Edward-Kopper/dp/0764538144/sr=1-1/qid=1166040966/ref=sr_1_1/104-8664191-5934366?ie=UTF8&s=books

I posted a few books that might be helpful. What you want to look for is a chapter by chapter summary and themes. I just looked at the price of that first book and went into sticker shock. I wouldn't buy it unless I really knew it would help. The Annotated Ulysses sounds like a good deal, but I can't personally vouch for it.

I used the Stuart Gilbert book and found it OK. It is old, published when Joyce was still alive and I think he talked to Joyce about it. It might be a little outdated in spots and perhaps written without fully knowing what we know now. But it was useful.

I found the Cliff Notes to be adequate for the price. If you are just reading to get the general gist, you can't go wrong with it.

[Jean-Baptiste]

I would definitely recommend Anthony Burgess' book Rejoyce for someone who doesn't necessarily need an explanation, but merely a way in. It is not entirely focused on Ulysses, but the sections that do deal with this novel are incredibly valuable. Like I said, it's not meant as a thorough explication, but if you're trying to get an intelligent person to come to an appreciation of Joyce, and especially Ulysses, this is the way. It was not so much the insight that Burgess offered that helped me, but the excitement that he exudes for Joyce's genius. It really helped me to recognize the peculiarities of the novel, as well as its value.

I would second Virgil's suggestion of Ulysses Annotated, I used it when I reread the novel, and it was incredibly helpful for pointing out the myriad allusions and specificities.

If you're just trying to explain why Joyce is so good and brilliant, Burgess will help you immensely. :thumbs_up

[katdad]

First and foremost, rent the DVD "Bloom" (2002), a beautiful and stirring film version of the novel. It's very entertaining in its own right and it will spark interest in the novel.

Two books, both in print and paperback, I recommend as guides to Ulysses:

"James Joyce's Ulysses" by Stuart Gilbert
"The New Bloomsday Book" by Harry Blamires

For background reading, not exactly guidebooks, I suggest:
"ReJoyce" by Anthony Burgess
"Mythic Worlds, Modern Words" by Joseph Campbell
(yes, both were ardent Joyce fans).

For a precise, step-by-step concordance:
"Ulysses Annotated" by Don Gifford.

[JerrySmile]

I strongly recommend the chapter on Ulysses in

Lectures on Literature
by Nabokov
a great book on reading and writing.

[merrycollie]

I know this is an older topic, but thought it could be helpful. I read Sparknotes on the computer. I am on chapter 9 now and always read about the chapter beforehand. This has helped trememdously to understand what I am reading and I can furthur enjoy it. Merry

[Nobodaddy]

I've been reading Ulysses for a couple weeks now and am LOVING it. I'm up to the "Sirens" episode and I have been using three companions as I've navigated the mighty epic:

James Joyce A to Z by A. Nicholas Fargnoli and Michael P. Gillespie

A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by Tindall

Mythic Worlds, Modern Words by Campbell


What I've been doing is reading a chapter and then reading what each guide has to say about the chapter and looking back at it at times. Tindall's book is especially good because it points out the many recurrences of themes as well as meanings to some obscure references. The "A to Z" guide is great because it walks you through and explains what exactly is going on (helpful for me in a chapter like Aelous) but it also has the background for when it was written, when it first appeared in serialization in a magazine, what the themes and technic is for each chapter.. Really cool book, it's like a Joyce encyclopedia basically.

[mal4mac]

I've been reading Ulysses for a couple weeks now and am LOVING it. I'm up to the "Sirens" episode and I have been using three companions as I've navigated the mighty epic:

James Joyce A to Z by A. Nicholas Fargnoli and Michael P. Gillespie

A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by Tindall

Mythic Worlds, Modern Words by Campbell


What I've been doing is reading a chapter and then reading what each guide has to say about the chapter and looking back at it at times. Tindall's book is especially good because it points out the many recurrences of themes as well as meanings to some obscure references. The "A to Z" guide is great because it walks you through and explains what exactly is going on (helpful for me in a chapter like Aelous) but it also has the background for when it was written, when it first appeared in serialization in a magazine, what the themes and technic is for each chapter.. Really cool book, it's like a Joyce encyclopedia basically.

This seems rather excessive, at least for the common reader. Having read Ellmann's biography of Joyce, he was certainly happy for someone to produce *a* guide to his epic. He even collaborated on one. But I think he would have hated the idea of the common reader having to buy several expensive guides from already overpaid academics.

I started my quest for a 'common' Ulysses with the hot off the press Wordsworth edition -- but was incredibly disappointed. The notes in their version of "Portrait" were superb, and the same goes for the other Wordsworth novels. But "Ulysses" has no notes at all! Ho hum, anyway it only cost £1.99, so not too much damage done. I think I'll try Oxford World Classics next, they have great notes (for at least the first few pages that I can see in 'Look Inside'!) Anyone read all the way through a version of Ulysses with truly helpful notes?

[ed_shaw]

Another approach that might be valid would involve an
awareness of the times in which James Joyce was writing.
For instance, in the world of painting, in Spain and France,
a young Pablo Picasso was coming out of his blue period
and embarking some of the most (conceptually) peculiar
painting ever witnessed. That was cubism.

In America, music was being totally transformed by groups
of musicians as diverse as has ever been heard. The form
became known as jazz.

Movie buffs, poetry and literature scholars, and theater
lovers could no doubt add example upon example. The
twenties and thirties were 'nuts,' and not just in the USA.

The entire cultural scene was in flux. Here was this Irish
writer, self-exiled from an Ireland that was, at the time,
just not the place for it.

Contextual information. That might be the ticket to
initiation for the girl friend.

[kev67]

Interesting thread. I was wondering whether I wouldn't be better off reading a book that explains what Ullysses was all about and why it's so good. I still want to read the actual book so I can brag that I've read it.