I've managed to read Ulysses in three weeks using these two tips: read it in Dublin, and get drunk 24/7. It worked! The only downside is that I have no recollections of my reading.
Blue Dusk - Now that is what I call a "Feat and a Tale" in itself! Too too funny! Stay healrhy and well read. Best wishes and love to all out there from South New Jersey, USA ❤️
I just finished it. Minutes ago. Some help with the Audio, but I did read every word. I AM speechless. I can't wait to "re-read" it. It's incredible. I didn't think I was going to make it through the (long running, punctuationless) Molly monologue of the last hunk of pages. But, It WAS worth every minute I used to read it. I does feel like a lifetime. I am already thinking of when and how to go through it again. "Yes I said yes I will Yes."
Please-please keep posting these kind of videos-please, they are so endearing. Because of you I’ve come to known such great writers like Samuel Richardson and much more.
I love your passion and eloquence. About 15 years ago, I tried to read Ulysses on my own without a guide. I failed. I made it roughly 300 pages before putting it down, defeated and discouraged. It was simply beyond me. Since then, I've considered this novel my personal literary Everest, and with every passing year, I feel a little more confident to reattempt my ascent.
Reading 300 pages of Ulysses without a guide is an incredible accomplishment. I think that feeling of defeat will prove to be valuable when you tackle it valiantly this time around Christophe :) After 15 years, you'll be bringing so much wisdom to the work. You'll climb this literary Everest, I'm sure!
My advice ( probably too late now ) is read the last chapter first. If you come away feeling disgusted or disappointed ( it gets pretty vile in this chapter ) , you can save yourself lots of time and find something more enjoyable to spend your time doing.
Thank you, sir. I've read "Ulysses" once in each of the past four decades and will again soon after turning seventy. Also, I've witnessed great lectures at four different universities on Joyce and his masterpieces given by my favorite professors. It seems you'll be my guide when I begin my final act.
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you, sir, and yes, to "Ulysses" and the many others you mention in this presentation. Edith Hamilton led me to Homer and the Mythic Heroes as a schoolboy, and from there I progressed to the great literature of all the world's societies. I've read everything published by James Joyce, of course, and even now, I pull down "The Aenied" by Publius Vergilius Maro weekly, delighting in the song of my ancestors and the understanding of the difficulties faced by immigrants, which all of us are. As sung by Kris Kristofferson, we're all pilgrims "On this Holy Road through the Universal Mind."
I'm 53 this year and have been working up the courage to start this book. My Lit Professor had us listen to and read all of Shakespeare plays and they have stayed with me for the past 30 years. It's a great way to learn.
This is without question the best video on the internet regarding Ulysses, Joyce, and how to best read and celebrate his art. Thank you so much. I’ve been looking everywhere for this.
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I finished reading Ulysses about 3 weeks ago (in fact, just after Bloomsday!). I wish I had this video available to me before/during that experience. Can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have subscribed to your channel!
I read most of Ulysses over Christmas break in 9th grade, and I finished it in the next couple of weeks. I'll say I took four weeks, but most of the reading was in the first two. So, I was 14, and I knew the book from it's reputations: (1) that it was very long and very difficult; and (2) that it had been banned as obscene for its first decade. And I was 14. So I was very curious, and I was always up for a challenge. And at 14 I had little "experience of life" and a little broader experience of literature. But I loved to read, and Ulysses was by no means the first "classic" I'd read. It didn't take me long to figure out that Ulysses was much easier to understand when you read it out loud. I found parts almost unintelligible, but I kept going, knowing that the mist would lift before long. Two things stood out to me. First, the language was so elegant, so effective. Each word had been carefully selected to impress a particular combination of meanings and feeling. It was poetry masquerading as prose. Second, traveling with Stephen and Leopold let me experience some ordinary situations, and a few situations that were extraordinary for a 14-year-old boy, from someone else's point of view. I was seeing the world through their eyes, hearing the world through their ears, not mine. It was so immediate. Being with Stephen and Leopold made me feel grown up. Stephen was a role model like an older brother. Leopold showed me a way of getting along in community despite his status as "other"--a Polish Jew. I absolutely loved Unlysses, and I quickly picked up and read Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A Portrait was very relatable. I saw myself in Stephen in every chapter. I was particularly taken with the theory of art that he explained in the last chapter. And of course, his escape at the end was very poignant since I already knew that he wouldn't be able to escape for long. Try as you might, you can't jump out of your own skin. Finnegans Wake I started when I was in 11th grade, and I went slowly, carefully, with long breaks. I guess it took me about ten years to finish it. I had to read Ulysses quickly to understand what it was doing. I had to read Finnegans Wake slowly to understand what it was doing. There are lots of very funny sections in the Wake. And I became very interested in Giambatista Vico and Bruno of Nola from reading the Wake. The time spent on Finnegans Wake was very rewarding. And I discovered Samuel Beckett along the way. While Joyce was trying to stuff as much as he could into a book, Beckett was trying to strip as much out of a book as he could. When I'm looking for a familiar voice to keep me company, I turn to Beckett.
To read Ulysses is to live Ulysses. I have just finished reading the absolute masterpiece novel that is Joyces Ulysses. My mind is quite frankly blown away. It’s hard to convey into words how utterly life changing and mesmerising this work is. It’s abstract, it’s funny, it’s absurd, it’s ridiculous, it’s life and life it’s self all written into the most stunning beautiful prose I have read. It’s a towering epic novel that only the Brothers Karamazov rivals. Thank you for your wonderful video Benjamin, you are a diamond in the rough.
I first read The Artist and then Ulysses. I did so after listening to Joseph Campbell's lectures on James Joyce's work. It really helped listening to those and reading the Artist first. Yes, I read the entirety of Ulysses. I did this about 20 years ago.
I fell in love with a book, and it was this book. It was my companion during many difficult episodes of my life, and would always cheer me, even at the bottom of the blackest depression. Thank you for this video. It brings back wonderful memories of my initial readings of it.
I read and fell in love with Ulysses this year. I understand and agree that you are never truly finished with this book. Along with others, I read Ulysses over 80 days to celebrate the centenary. It worked out 6-8 pages per day. Some days, those 6 pages took an hour. Other days, I wanted to keep reading on, which I did. I have since seen Edna O'Brien's play, Joyce's Women and I intend to revisit this again. Probably sooner rather than later. Some of it went over my head, but that's ok. Reading it in a group setting made a huge difference to that.
Great way to read a book. Trying to do the same with with another long novel. I began in April, it's now November. My goal to finish by the end of the year. Im a very slow reader [in fiction] I going to read Ulysses next year (ordered a hard cover) and act on your method 6/8 perhaps10 pages per day (in two sittings morning and bedtime) over a definite set period. Completing it in 3 months.
thank you for this video from Italy. You know Joyce was a great lover of the italian arts and we know that him and Italo Svevo were very in touch, making a very interesting bridge between italian and english literature. Sorry fo my bad english but I'm not mother tongue although you are very good and I can understood you ☺. Greetings from Bologna 👋👋
I have read this book once and tried a second time but abandoned it at page 40 .after watching this great video I have learned much and will continue reading
Congratulations, It is very gratifying to see a young man who loves good literature. I wish many more people, politicians, businessmen, etc. could follow in your footsteps. The world would be a better place to live, without a doubt.
I experienced this great work in Dublin under the tutelage of Roland McHugh while studying at the School of Irish Studies in Ballsbridge in 1979. We read it aloud, every page, every paragraph in class. Joyce may have invented Meta Data, the hidden information in plain sight that places a reader in one place, at one time. To truly understand it, you must study it, and in doing so, it teaches one how to learn and observe. Only after you have studied and consumed it, can you say you have read it. You emerge changed forever.
The thing I love about Joyce is his work encourages us to be as well read and as humble as he was. He brings literature to life while also completely undermining the egotistic and imperial narratives of greatness and heroism that are so implicit in these works he brings to life. Abjection before humanity and affirmation before life are what I learned from him most. He transvaluates the desire to understand this difficult work into the desire to stop reifying literature, and love it, say yes to it instead, as with people.
As an aspiring intellectual at 16, I got about 10 pages in before giving up and going back to Ray Bradbury. Now, at age 75, with the invaluable assistance of Don Gifford's Annotated Ulysses, I am not plodding but wandering my way through it and enjoying it immensely. I appreciate the flow of the language but I really want to understand every reference and allusion and Gifford's book provides most. I especially like, in Joyce's many references to poems, that Gifford both identifies and then quotes the poems, which are so lyrical as the Irish bards historically are.
You have become my favorite channel on RUclips. Going to pause Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to watch this. I really want to read Ulysses one of these days!
An excellent lecture, so much peripheral detail, exactly what the reader needs approaching Ulysses. I've read it, several times, the first time in my Honours year, dipped into it countless times, regaled my wife with passages, proselytized the book to friends, and I'd like to think I've become an expert, but I haven't of course. There are passages I still find difficult, bits I don't fully understand, and every time I dip in I find something new. Ulysses is the book of life, a book for life. Thanks again for the illuminating talk.
As a 50-something forced to retire earlier than planned for health reasons, I decided to audit a class at the local university called "Modern Fiction." I thought the course would explore contemporary novels, but this was a class on Modernism. The syllabus includes works by such writers as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf and, of course, James Joyce. We were assigned "Ulysses" last week. I must thank both my instructor and you for helping me approach this book with a positive spirit of adventure and curiosity, as opposed to one of dread. We are using the Gabler Edition in class. I have emerged from Hades and am now in Aeolus. I wouldn't say it's a breeze, but reading this book certainly is not the chore I expected!
I am loving the content of your videos that I've discovered this year and they have become my favourite. No disrespect to others but most book channels focus on the number of books read and reading has never been a race for me. They mainly critique the latest bestsellers and I revel in the opportunity to delve into a deep read at my own pace, the great works. Thank you so much for reopening a door for me 🌻
Thank you, Carol :) The means a lot to me. I got caught up in using quantity as my metric for success for so many years, but it didn't make me happy. After emphasising quality, slow reading, and rereading, I experienced the most self-growth and reading once again became the joyful experience I used to love as a child! I'm so happy you're here reading with me :)
honestly i’m so glad i found your channel.. i have no one to talk about literature and your enthusiasm is very motivating .. and i have found more authors and books to check out because of you and videos thank you :)))))
The reading-aloud part is absolutely the key to unlocking this book. I tried reading it at least thrice before but the style and the allusions just annoyed me cause I simply hadn't, and still haven't, read all the books Joyce refers to. But when you hear it said aloud, you find that the allusions, while definitely playing a huge part in its appeal, are secondary to the sound of the words, the vocabulary, and the imagery, and yes, the story. And as someone who writes songs, I also understand why so many great songwriters and lyricists, such as Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Jim Morrison and Van Morrison are Joyce fans.
i have always wanted to read Ulysses, but the fact that English is my second language scares me, and i want to get more of homer and Shakespeare under my belt, as always great and helpful videos keep up the good work 🙏.
Your English is great! I'm sure you'll be able to get something out of Ulysses. Being able to speak more than one language is a huge benefit when it comes to Joyce. And thank you for the kind words, my friend :)
I used _Ulysses_ as a text in an ESL class for many years, and my students loved it. I ran into a woman from Argentina in the street a few years after she was in my class, and she told me she had gone to Dublin for the centennial in 2004. Don't worry. You will find much that you will love and that will become a part of your thinking thereafter; what you miss will be clear on re-reading. And you will want to re-read once it captures you.
@@cbooth2004 Wow. That's incredible, Christopher. You not only managed to use this difficult novel in your ESL class, but you ended up inspiring your student to actually go over to Dublin. You're a fantastic teacher - what a lucky class :)
Honestly even when I don't understand I find the language beautiful and more than sufficient to keep me reading this book. The understanding, I guess, will come with time and experience, and many re-reads. I like to read it aloud to myself.
Hi, Alice Deligny. Glad to know it's not just me! I don't think you have to plough through a lot of classics to have fun reading Ulysses although I'm guessing you'd appeciate its rich tapestry more if you did (I didn't and still loved it!).
Thank you so much for sharing your passion and your knowledge! I was definitely on the verge of abandoning it, and am very grateful to have this guidance and perspective as to how I can begin. Many thanks to you.
You are so welcome, Rachel! Thank you so much for your kind words and for watching :) I'm thrilled that you are persevering with Ulysses! I'd love to know how you get on with it!!
I read Blood Meridian when I was about 15 as a young literature nerd, solely because of the subject matter and how much hype had been built around it being a 'difficult read'; almost exalting it to a legendary status. I decided to move onto Ulysses after finding Blood Meridian not only a pretty easy read all in all but still remains as my favorite novel to this day. Being reread many times over. Ulysses was not the same experience. If anything is a difficult experience, it's reading Ulysses. However, it is indeed incredible and I've read it three times to date. I'm planning on another go around since I have some years and experience on me at this point. It's absolutely worth the work, and work it can be. Still haven't cracked into Gravity's Rainbow yet though. It appears damn close in terms of being laborious to get into for the first time and I've been waiting for the mood to strike me. Wonderful video aside.
Thank you, Benjamin for your masterpiece review and recommendations. As I entered college, a young lady I befriended at the time bought me a Modern Library "Ulysses" for my birthday. I decided to read it and use it as the subject of my assigned Freshman Literature paper. The paper was about the sexuality in the book and the publishing travails. (After all, I was 18 at the time.) Made it through the book and a lot of associated sources and ended up with an A+. So, I thank you, especially for the recommendation of "The Most Dangerous Book", which I began as I paused your video long enough to acquire it online. I recently finished his book on Dostoevsky and his travails in life, leading up to and including the writing of "Crime And Punishment". Fascinating, as well. So glad you are on RUclips and I look forward to joining one of your review groups soon, Thank you for your brilliance.
I came to Ulysses as a young man just graduated from high school in a rural part of North Carolina, working-class, uneducated for the most part, unconcerned with art because for the most part totally unaware of its being, in love with the painting of Francis Bacon and for that matter of Lucian Freud, Giacometti, others especially modernist British and French artists. Their monographs were littered with allusions to Joyce's Ulysses and Eliot's The Waste Land. The first time I read Ulysses, I only made it three hundred pages in; likewise the second attempt. It was twenty years later, in my late thirties, that I finally read it through.
A superb video. I swear to you, this compendious discourse proved as intoxicating an experience as my brushings and bruisings with Joyce's epic-of-one-day while I was nursing my terminally ill mother. This book was my counsellor, confidant, goad and opponent of those days. It has been my lifelong habit to read each book (novels, that is) just the once. I know, I know. It's swinishly stubborn of me. 😁
I really appreciate your very first point. When I first encountered Ulysses, I was filled with frustration and conceit, believing it to be pretentious (to the very definition). However, I learned over time that I was the problem and not the book. Great video! I was skeptical, at first, but you're spot on.
This is so impressive and we-ll researched! Last year, I read Ulysses twice, because I just couldn't stop myself. It was my first try, and it went so much better than I'd imagined. I read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a few years ago, and although I liked the author's experiments with style, I didn't enjoy it that much. Ulysses is in a league of its own. For the most part, I didn't need a mediator, because I don't get frustrated that easily when I discover I don't get something. I focused on the things I understood and let the rest be music and play. When I required help, I turned to The New Bloomsday Book, Stuart Gilbert's study, The Joyce Project, and Blooms & Barnacles. Later, I got so obsessed I bought other books on Ulysses. Each chapter was an opportunity to experience the world differently. Joyce saw them as opportunities to exhaust the language, and he sure did. The beginning of each chapter served as a signpost to change my strategy. By the end of it, I felt like this was my last opportunity to savor this style. Proteus scared me at first because it was so slippery, but then reassured me and turned out to be one of my go-to parts. It gets so much better after the first read, when you see how it connects to other chapters. Obviously, every chapter with Mr. Leopold Bloom as the main focus was a thrill. As a person, he lacks Stephen's knowledge and depth, but as a character he is infinitely more fascinating in his little problems, interests, and quirks. Nausicaa was one of the most delightful parodies I've ever read, yet at the same time it sparked so many thoughts about identity and the self-protection techniques we use, when the alternative would be tragic. Oxen of the Sun was easier than I imagined. I thought half of it would be in actual Old and Middle English. The story of Mina Purefoy's childbirth is discussed through the male lens, and Joyce replicated the style of male writers only. These imitations were so well-done, that even I recognized some authors. While Oxen explores the conscious, my favorite chapter, Circe, deals with the subconscious. It's like Joyce took the entirety of Ulysses and condensed it to a phantasmagorical play, adding so much nuance to it in the process. I also fell in love with Ithaca and Penelope, and overall I enjoyed this book in all its forms, be it a history lesson, a discussion about Shakespeare, a fugue, a list of wedding guests who all happen to have tree names, a catechism whose purpose isn't to answer our questions, or a never ending stream of thoughts. Good luck with the book club! I'm sure you'll have a blast exploring different aspects of it together!
I've just discovered your channel a few days ago and thoroughly appreciate your thoughtful and accessible videos. You've inspired me to pick up Ulysses and try again! And to also read The Odyssey. Thank you so very much for your wonderful channel and have a fabulous day ☺️
Hi Ben, I bought a copy this year and now you have provided more than enough inspiration and guidance! I'm truly grateful! You're doing amazing things here on booktube! 💞
I may pick up this one at some point. I’ve been put off Joyce in the past, but I loved Dubliners, which has some of the most hauntingly beautiful stories that I’ve ever read. “The Dead” makes my heart ache.
Stumbled at first; now enjoying the sing-song narrative, interspersed with tangential thoughts, a hicklety picklety language I'm beginning to love. Early days. Page ninety.
I just finished Ulysses yesterday, (after many runs). I read it in Hungarian, we have a new translation from 2012, as I know, it's the third H. translation. The last three chapters are for me phenomenal - and I have the whole book to read again. Dubliners and The Portrait of the Artist...are my favourits for years, so I'm glad to know Ulysses too. Your video is SUPERB for me, THANK YOU!!
Köszönöm a kedves szavakat, Mária! I completely agree with you on those last few chapters. Exhilarating stuff :) Congratulations on finishing Ulysses! And happy reading :)
Thank you very much! It's great help! _ I'm now reading 'Ulysses'. I wish I had started earlier. _ Two favourite quotes: 1. 'Travel round in front of the sun, steal a day’s march on him. Keep it up for ever never grow a day older technically.' (Part II / Chapter 4 - Calypso) 2. '...Do you know what is the proudest word you will ever hear from an Englishman’s mouth? .... -That on his empire, Stephen said, the sun never sets. *** -Ba! - Mr Deasy cried. - That’s not English. A French Celt said that. ... I paid my way. ' *** '_ Good man, good man. _ - I paid my way. I never borrowed a shilling in my life. Can you feel that? I owe nothing.' _ (Part 1/Chapter 2 - Nestor)
I read Ulysses in 2019, in a group reading, with the help of couple of online guides. We started on January 1st, very slowly, and we timed it so that we would reach the end by Bloomsday. :) English is my second language, but I had an old English language copy at home and I took my chances with it. I was just telling my wife about this video and reminiscing (she read it too, but in Spanish translation). Now I think I need to re-read it, but my to-read pile is huge and I've just added Dubliners and Portrait... to it.
Great narrative on the subject. Your content inspires me to open the book again. It has been lying in that corner of my shelf unread for two decades now. Thanks for sharing the research.
I'm aiming to start reading Joyce more this year, specifically since I've been reading through the works of Samuel Beckett lately, and I know Beckett worked closely with Joyce during the creation of Finnegans Wake. So, I know I'm coming at Joyce a bit backward, and it's good to see other works that'll make better sense of Ulysses.
Thanks for this! I read Ulysses earlier this year. Most of the time I didn't really enjoy it, in fact I skimmed it here and there. But when I eventually finished it I felt like I wanted to start it all over again. I know I will read it again in the future.
That sounds like a tremendously successful reading to me! Your lingering sense of wanting to start it all over again is very exciting. You'll absolutely get more and more out of it with every read. Joyce took me quite a few years to learn to love, and my first readings looked very similar to yours. I have a feeling this will become a special book to you in the future!
Thank you for these wonderful series. Had a few of them downloaded. Currently reading three monumental works in parallel (and the harmony is unparalleled): -Ulysses -The Magic Mountain -Remembrance of things past (just started prt 2 Within a Budding Grove)
Thank you so much for this! Truly fascinating and interesting content filled with such great information! I’m currently studying for my comprehensive exams for my PhD and Ulysses is a monumental text on my list since I am going to be specializing in modernism… So thank you!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thanks Ben! I used Ulysses Unbound by Terrence Killeen as my guide. I used to say I was Dante and that book was my Virgil. I would read a chapter in Ulysses then the corresponding chapter in that book and it helped everything become accessible to me. I also listened to the audiobook you mentioned and it made it the best reading experience of my life. The book is hilarious and moving, and I agree with Column McCann where he said Ulysses has the power to bring us face to face with our own heritage and to understand ourselves. He even went so far to say he saw his dead great grandfather walk across his room and sit in a chair, as the Dublin from Ulysses is the same Dublin in which he would have lived in. Everything his family did and how they acted now makes sense as the book can act almost like a time machine. I feel exactly the same way for my own Irish heritage, as the stories of Bloom and Dedalus helped me come to terms with the losses of my grandparents, as while I read the book I lived in the world in which they lived in. It also helped me connect with my mum on a deeper level as I began to understand her upbringing and why she is how she is. To see how Bloom coped with the loss of his daughter and his fathers suicide while still staying strong made ME feel strong, and the friendship the two developed over the cup of cocoa made me appreciate the smaller moments with my own friends and family. It really has changed my life for the future, and I believe I have become a keen observer of all things great and small. It truly is a transformative book, and I think there are parts of us all scattered throughout. I am in my gap year before I start my English and History joint honours degree, so I have been reading broadly and tackling the "best of the best" in classic literature. You have guided most of my choices and I come to your channel for a deeper understanding and to hear your points of view. I will say out of this year my favourite books so far are Ulysses, Crime and Punishment, Moby Dick, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I am currently reading The Brothers Karamazov and I can tell it will definitely be added to this list once I finish. I would love to see you do a video on it!
@@BeantbeantbeantThank you for your encouraging comment and sharing your personal experience. I was deeply touched by the comparison with Dante and Virgil. I will definitely go to the Book!
I love this Thank You! I'm making a note to myself for reminders at 12 and at 46 mins. Recently dove into War and Peace (again) upon your recommendation. Next up Joyce. 👍👌😃💝
Thanks so much for doing this. It inspired me to get a copy of Ulysses, and so far - I'm loving it! It's so beautifully written and poetic. Which is how I'm reading it - slowly, like a prose poem. And that's a genuine tribute, from someone who vowed she would never read any more Joyce at the age of 18, having done Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist...' for English A' level. ..and hated it. I'm probably a good example of how often times, some books need to be read at certain times in your life. I was clearly too young and 'unread' then for Joyce. Many thanks!
i’m reading ulysses now and this video just appeared to me so i wanted to say this is such a good work you’ve been doing. i just loved your video, loved your commentaries about the book, and i was thinking of giving up the reading (in this exact moment i’m in the aeolus chapter), but i won’t because of you! since you’re such a lover of great literature, i’d like to thank your work by recommending you a brazilian writer (i’m from Brazil😁): Clarice Lispector. Pleeeease, read any of her books! She’s one of the greatest intellectuals of our country, and is influenced by james joyce (one of her novels is called near to the wild heart. However, i’d say you should start with the passion according G.H.). I’m sure that you’ll love it. :)
I read a portrait of the artist as a young man for A levels and I found it a really challenging but rewarding read... I had a really great teacher for Literature at the time and she really did a fantastic job with Joyce. I am intimidated by Joyce and so quite reluctant to read Ullyses on my own without the assistance of other readers and perhaps a lecturer to guide me through it. Perhaps I will give it a go some day. Thank you for this wonderful video.
Thank you very much, Benjamin. As a non-native English speaker, Ulysses is even a bit more of a challenge for me, but there's no way I'd go for a translation. Your suggestions are invaluable to me.
My suggestion to other readers who want to experience Ulysses but possess a pea brain like i do -- just do the following: 1. Read The Odyssey and Hamlet, and the other two books Joyce wrote before Ulysses. 2. Keep this site called The Joyce Project open on the side as you start reading the book. They have brief explanations for all the obscure allusions that may confuse you. 3. This one may look like cheating but actually helps: READ A CHAPTER SUMMARY BEFORE READING THE ACTUAL CHAPTER IN THE NOVEL. I know this sounds lame, but sometimes I had no idea what the heck was going on in the book and had to read chapter summaries to figure it out. So I decided to reverse that and went into each chapter with a basic idea of what's about to happen so I could actually appreciate what Joyce was doing. Helped me actually enjoy the book. 4. This one's important: listen to an audiobook in some capacity. It's a book that's meant to be read aloud, and there is an awesome dramatic reading of the book available here on RUclips for free. I finished the book by accompanying my reading of the last few chapters with the audiobook playing and it was very engaging. 5. Listen to Kate Bush's "The Sensual World" to motivate yourself to reach the end. It's a great song! You're welcome.
These are amazing tips! Thank you so much for sharing them :) What you've written about reading chapter summaries before the actual chapter is so important. Many readers will get heaps more enjoyment out of the book by doing this. And nice to have a fellow Kate Bush fan here :) Around the time I was putting together the Wuthering Heights lectures, I listened to Kate Bush on repeat.. Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home.." 🎶
Many thanks! 😀 Definitely one of the best videos about Ulysses. (I saw about 20.) Great book recommendations! I am close to 80% through at the first listening. A compendium work is highly recommended for lit. boobs like me. Keep up the good work! 📚
Decades ago a professor of mine warned us of Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake. He referred to both as “impossible novels”, which has always piqued my interest. I had a copy of Finnegan’s Wake for many years after college and never broke the spine. This video helps demystify Joyce for me, an author who’s always seemed foreboding. On to Book Depository to order Ulysses!
That professor should have been fired right away. Ulysses is absolutely wonderful - just keep reading and do not insist on 'understanding' all of it at the first go. Lots of wonderful stuff in the Wake too (and by the way, it really is Finnegans Wake, no apostrophe).
I'm like you, Jeremy! The surest way to get me to read something is to call it impossible or unreadable. Even better if the book has been censored and banned :) So Ulysses ticks quite a few boxes there! With these seemingly impenetrable works, I've always taken it as a personal challenge to break into them and love them. As for Finnegans Wake, without giving too much away, we may very well have some content on this one in the future! Happy reading, and let me know what you make of Ulysses!
I have read it several times now and go back to favourite episodes every few years ... the episode I found most difficult was The Sirens, in which every little sound has an equal emphasis. One of the most unpopular sections,, the penultimate one with its question and answer format is the one I love most, though the dramatic interlude with Stephen, Bloom and Bella is the funniest. The Molly monologue is, of course the most justly famous. I first read it at twenty one, as an adventure, and an adventure it certainly was.
Thank you so much, Denis! I really appreciate that :) I'm thrilled you're enjoying Joyce's prose style. It's definitely a challenge, but, as you say, very beautiful!
Utterly inspiring! Superb. I love Ulysses and on the fourth reading of it and finding new depths. I’m laughing my head off on The Cyclops chapter with the ridiculous juxtaposition of the mythical and the banality of the real. Loved your video! 👌👌👌👌👌
Ulysses IS fun to read! And funny!! I quite regret that I didn't read it decades sooner!!! Joyce's own chart was a welcome boon, but, honestly, most of the references (maybe aside from the streets of Dublin for some among us who haven't been there) are quite familiar, aren't they: Shakespeare, Greeks, Dante ... What a pleasure. Thanks for encouraging folks to turn those pages. And Hamlet, et al ;^)
This is wonderful. I've owned a copy of Ulysses for 30 years but it has intimidated me too much to even start. Lately, though, I've dipped into a few chapters and have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed it so far. This is a superb introduction. Now, if only I can find a proper group to enjoy it with.
That's so amazing to hear :) Thank you for your kind words, and I hope you keep enjoying Ulysses! I'd love to know what you make of it once you get through it :)
I enthusiastically concur with your recommendation of Jim Nolan's narration ( and the music! ) on the audiobook rendition - and just as much with regard to 'The Most Dangerous Book'! Both are truly excellent! Indeed, it was deep-reading the text along with Nolan's narration that 'broke open' Ulysses for me. This video has so rekindled my ardour to get back into that world that I've just splashed out on the Cambridge University Press's Centenary Edition of Ulysses. It's a massive tome so I'll be keeping my trusty Penguin edition close at hand! Great video again - many thanks!
I have been reading from a young age. Overtime i read some 'difficult 'books . I even read Dante in Italian (I'm rather proud of that one ..ahumm ;) But i never managed to finish Ulysses for some reason or another. Not for a lack of trying 😅You convinced me, so I'm going to give it another try.
Dante in Italian! That's one of my personal reading goals right there :) I've gone through a few different translations into English, but they always leave me wanting the original. And nice one on deciding to dive into Ulysses. I'd love to hear what you make of it!
Thanks for this presentation! I plan on returning to Ulysses at the end of next month. I have already reread The Odyssey and will revisit Hamlet and Ibsen, who I've been told Joyce loved. Reading Ulysses because we can is an interesting notion. America is going through a particularly bad patch right now, maybe literature might become a target. Of course that's giving some people more credit than they deserve.
I've always loved books but found even Harry Potter difficult however I got diagoised as dyslexic at 32 which now makes my life so much easier. This has been so helpful for an author that has terrified me. Also such great tips in the comments. I read Dante's inferno a few times in the last 7 years but never really understood it but I still enjoyed it. I'm hoping now I've found this fantastic channel I can broaden my literacy horizons so if anyone has any book recommendations or tips on how to read Shakespeare and other classic books it would be most appreciated.
For reading Shakespeare, try The Arden Shakespeare, very informative with regards his plots and explanations of the script in full,even to the point where every line is examined. There is a book for every play.
I read Ulysses this year after reading Hamlet, The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, googling every other sentence, writing in the margins and filling them up with ink. I learned about metempsychosis, but not much else. After that I read 'Portrait Of An Artist' and now with a guidebook to assist me. Hopefully I can learn something else this time.
I love your content so much, I very rarely comment unless I feel as if it is imperative to show my appreciation. Thank you for being one of the few book loving friends in my life- if I can refer to you as a “friend”. I’ve been waiting for a video on this! May I ask, what are your thoughts on an English and creative writing degree; I am torn between either an English literature degree, an English and American literature degree or my prior mentioned degree but I fail to decipher this puzzle? I’m 18 and have taken a gap year for many reasons, one being to gain some time to mature and decide my future. I’m an aspiring writer and lover of literature (by lover I mean I am truly enamoured by anything to do with literature). Thank you for any insight you can give, I very much appreciate the time it takes to make this content and respond to comments.
I had the same thought and question: Should I make a serious study of literature? No! said I to myself, why ruin a good thing? I did anthropology, comparative religion, linguistics, and have never been sorry. I’m a stone’s throw from eighty now, a couple years beyond you.
@@buddharuci2701 Haha, only a couple years older; what a pleasure it is to communicate with yourself I find different walks of life and experiences fascinating. I think I’m going to just chase my dreams and forget about the repercussions for the most part. I’ll keep researching the three possible degrees I wish to do and eventually when it is time to decide I will know what I want (hopefully). That degree sounds great though and I’m glad it was the right choice for yourself.
Thank you, Kieran. That really means a lot to me. I consider you all my friends too. It can be difficult to find people in our day-to-day lives who want to discuss these difficult works as deeply as we do. Despite its issues, the internet is really quite a beautiful tool that connects like-minded people from all over the world. To address your question - my degree was in English Language and Literature, though I toyed with taking Creative Writing. I had thought I might go into journalism when I was younger, and was also interested to learn how to write different forms of fiction and non-fiction. It's a difficult question that I think only you would know the answer to in your heart. Gap years are a great opportunity to read as much as possible, write, think, and explore, and you might find that your gut is telling you to go in one direction more than another. Two questions that might help you: 1. Would you regret not going? and 2. If you didn't go, what would you do instead? A lot also depends on where you're going and the particular program you're looking at. Will it help you in the direction you want to follow? Does the course/syllabus look challenging and inspiring? Just some thoughts to mull over. At 18, there isn't a right or wrong answer, and you have a ton of room to change what you want to do several times over until things feel right. Your gut is wise, and at a certain point one needs to take a leap of faith!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy No thank you. I just needed another person’s voice on this matter and you have helped tremendously. I just don’t want to do English and creative writing joint honours for two reasons: reason one being I’m worried it would sacrifice some of the reading and critical analysis of great works that you find in doing just English literature on its own. Reason two is more personal- I suppose I wish to be a writer like McCarthy, Dickens, Plath, Joyce and King, to name a few I find inspiring. However, will the creative writing side of my (possible) degree be wasteful because I can’t become a writer due to the one in a million chance of it becoming a reality. Not to mention the fact that I’m looking at getting a C in English and coming out overall with BCC at best meaning is there even a point in trying? Where would I even go? Is it worth even going to the places I could go? Sorry I’m a messy person and just trying to figure it all out- I just struggled during my A levels because of how I was taught at GCSE level and how my mind works which I’ve fought against massively and I’m proud to say that a good C was an impressive jump from where I begun. I begun year 12 writing half a page for a 25 marker. I left writing 3 pages of far better quality. Anyway, ignore me I have a tendency to ramble whilst texting. Thank you for your time.
@@kieranhooton9665 I'm so impressed at your perseverance and belief in yourself. You've realised already that academic results are not a reflection of ability or potential - that is a great achievement at your age. Tolstoy quit University and went off to experience the university of life. I have no answer to your question, but am convinced that a young person of your self awareness will find the answer within.
I’m three or so minutes in, and already I’m chuck full of thoughts: if possible, read it together with others whose backgrounds are vastly varied. Allow yourself to befriend Poldy, Molly, Stephen, et al. as you slowly get to know them. Do not berate yourself for not understanding this and that. Enjoy the shifting sands of style you meet as you go along. Finally, to get into the style of Joycean prose - there’s really no such thing, but what the hey! - consider reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And follow all Benjamin’s suggestions, but again, you can approach this book from any one of a thousand perspectives, psychology being a particularly popular one. You read all this? My apologies. Cheers. Michael
thanks so much for this video Ben, it's lovely and it's very helpful. I had to read Ulysses at college and then I read Ulysses a few times without any pressure, which was of course more fun. I totally agree with your point "listening and reading aloud". I'm now translating a book about Joyce and re-reading (actually listening to) Ulysses one more time. There is a podcast produced by RTE Radio 1 in 1982 and it's available online. Please check it out if you haven't already. I think it's a superb adaptation of the book and it helps readers (also listeners) to understand the book much easier than reading it quietly in a room by yourself surrounded by pile of dictionaries and guide books. all the best!
Thank you :) I'm so happy you enjoyed it! I've been keeping it a bit of a secret, but I am actually working on some content for Finnegans Wake at the moment. So we should have something out in the not-too-distant future!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Oh, that would be really really great. I like your approach to all of this so much. Thank you. Greetings from a Romani Irish philosopher in Spain.
OMG,...this started to fell like Ulysses itself. Absolutely fabulous but will require multiple views and explanations to understand what's going on. Bravo ... but!!! Well done!
Ulysses hit me like a ton of bricks (in a good way). Since then I've went on loads of joyce tours. I ve done sandycove martello tower last week and am doing a tour of his house this Friday. I also did a litreture pub crawl in Dublin, run by Joycian actors finishing in Davy byrnes pub where there is a first edition of ulysses on display
Try "The CodeX Cantina" summary on the first part of the book The Sisters, to kick you off. I did and having found out about James Joyce from another reader who felt that Leo Tolstoy (Russian) and James Joyce amongst others have not been given the recognition they deserve as writers who understood humanity so severely while the same humanity understood them not; has found it a little easier to read it. I am reading Frank Kafka's Metamorphosis at the moment. He is great at mirroring the human race in his writing.
Fairly new to your work but find it both delightful and instructive. I read half of it in the '70s, then finished it, and Finnegans Wake, over COVID, with the help of Audible, Gilbert Stuart's Ulysses Chart, an online summation of the Wake's chapters, online text, and Campbell's Skeleton Key and one other very excellent book of the Wake by Tindall, or something like that. The pages all came unglued and fell out. After finishing Ulysses, I found an online version of the Wake, and had my browser read it to me as I followed along, so it was rather robotic, although Robot was pretty damn good with the sesquipedalia. But as soon as I was done with that way of doing it, Audible came out with a brand-new full Wake, which I immediately bought and listened to. I have been chipping away since the '70s and so it was wondrous and a relief of sorts to finally git 'er done, so to speak. Recently I discovered a direct family connection to Sir Tristram from North Armorica who apparently came to Howth, changed named to St Lawrence, who is also related, being the same dude. Some of the ancestors are so connected to so many people of note, I can understand the notion of HCE, because here comes everybody, once you dig a little. Thanks again. Reading for the sentiment.
Thought I'd spend much of Tuesday sitting and waiting so I picked up the recording with Norton. Have been enjoying it all on it's own, though I'm about to get my hard copy off the shelf.
All these suggestions are useful and good. My top pick is "Read Ulysses because you can." Writing from the USA, I am going to add, "...and while you can" in view of the appalling renaissance of the spirit of censorship in this country. And not just from the old familiar sources. Thanks for including that exhortation. Liberty of thought and expression are precious beyond compare.
Reading a little Irish history will be very helpful ... Parnell, the Phoenix Park murders and the political situation int the dawn of the twentieth century will clarify some sections.
Hi, I just bought the penguin kindle version of Ulysses, annotated by Andrew Gibson. It will be released 2 May 2024. I had a try years ago and I stopped right at the spot you mentioned. I do write as well: I guess James Joyce is a writers writer.
I've managed to read Ulysses in three weeks using these two tips: read it in Dublin, and get drunk 24/7. It worked! The only downside is that I have no recollections of my reading.
😂😂 I'll cheers a Guinness to that! Sounds like the best way of reading it to me.
I had a friend who majored in English at Cornell. He read Ulysses in 48 hours, with a lot of help from his friends.
Blue Dusk - Now that is what I call a "Feat and a Tale" in itself! Too too funny! Stay healrhy and well read. Best wishes and love to all out there from South New Jersey, USA ❤️
❤
Well done!!!!
I just finished it. Minutes ago. Some help with the Audio, but I did read every word. I AM speechless. I can't wait to "re-read" it. It's incredible. I didn't think I was going to make it through the (long running, punctuationless) Molly monologue of the last hunk of pages. But, It WAS worth every minute I used to read it. I does feel like a lifetime. I am already thinking of when and how to go through it again. "Yes I said yes I will Yes."
Please-please keep posting these kind of videos-please, they are so endearing. Because of you I’ve come to known such great writers like Samuel Richardson and much more.
Aw, thank you :) I really appreciate that! I'm thrilled that there are so many lovers of literature who are excited about my favourite books!
I love your passion and eloquence. About 15 years ago, I tried to read Ulysses on my own without a guide. I failed. I made it roughly 300 pages before putting it down, defeated and discouraged. It was simply beyond me. Since then, I've considered this novel my personal literary Everest, and with every passing year, I feel a little more confident to reattempt my ascent.
Reading 300 pages of Ulysses without a guide is an incredible accomplishment. I think that feeling of defeat will prove to be valuable when you tackle it valiantly this time around Christophe :) After 15 years, you'll be bringing so much wisdom to the work. You'll climb this literary Everest, I'm sure!
Do not give up! Never give up. I finished it this month, after probably four aborted attempts over the course of a decade.
My advice ( probably too late now ) is read the last chapter first. If you come away feeling disgusted or disappointed ( it gets pretty vile in this chapter ) , you can save yourself lots of time and find something more enjoyable to spend your time doing.
Thank you, sir. I've read "Ulysses" once in each of the past four decades and will again soon after turning seventy. Also, I've witnessed great lectures at four different universities on Joyce and his masterpieces given by my favorite professors. It seems you'll be my guide when I begin my final act.
Wow. Thank you, Michael. It sounds like you have an incredibly deep personal relationship with this great work. I'm honoured to have you here!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you, sir, and yes, to "Ulysses" and the many others you mention in this presentation. Edith Hamilton led me to Homer and the Mythic Heroes as a schoolboy, and from there I progressed to the great literature of all the world's societies. I've read everything published by James Joyce, of course, and even now, I pull down "The Aenied" by Publius Vergilius Maro weekly, delighting in the song of my ancestors and the understanding of the difficulties faced by immigrants, which all of us are. As sung by Kris Kristofferson, we're all pilgrims "On this Holy Road through the Universal Mind."
I'm 53 this year and have been working up the courage to start this book. My Lit Professor had us listen to and read all of Shakespeare plays and they have stayed with me for the past 30 years. It's a great way to learn.
This is without question the best video on the internet regarding Ulysses, Joyce, and how to best read and celebrate his art. Thank you so much. I’ve been looking everywhere for this.
Thank you, Richard! You have made my day, my friend :) I'm so happy you enjoyed it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I finished reading Ulysses about 3 weeks ago (in fact, just after Bloomsday!). I wish I had this video available to me before/during that experience. Can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have subscribed to your channel!
I read most of Ulysses over Christmas break in 9th grade, and I finished it in the next couple of weeks. I'll say I took four weeks, but most of the reading was in the first two. So, I was 14, and I knew the book from it's reputations: (1) that it was very long and very difficult; and (2) that it had been banned as obscene for its first decade. And I was 14. So I was very curious, and I was always up for a challenge. And at 14 I had little "experience of life" and a little broader experience of literature. But I loved to read, and Ulysses was by no means the first "classic" I'd read. It didn't take me long to figure out that Ulysses was much easier to understand when you read it out loud. I found parts almost unintelligible, but I kept going, knowing that the mist would lift before long.
Two things stood out to me. First, the language was so elegant, so effective. Each word had been carefully selected to impress a particular combination of meanings and feeling. It was poetry masquerading as prose. Second, traveling with Stephen and Leopold let me experience some ordinary situations, and a few situations that were extraordinary for a 14-year-old boy, from someone else's point of view. I was seeing the world through their eyes, hearing the world through their ears, not mine. It was so immediate. Being with Stephen and Leopold made me feel grown up. Stephen was a role model like an older brother. Leopold showed me a way of getting along in community despite his status as "other"--a Polish Jew.
I absolutely loved Unlysses, and I quickly picked up and read Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A Portrait was very relatable. I saw myself in Stephen in every chapter. I was particularly taken with the theory of art that he explained in the last chapter. And of course, his escape at the end was very poignant since I already knew that he wouldn't be able to escape for long. Try as you might, you can't jump out of your own skin.
Finnegans Wake I started when I was in 11th grade, and I went slowly, carefully, with long breaks. I guess it took me about ten years to finish it. I had to read Ulysses quickly to understand what it was doing. I had to read Finnegans Wake slowly to understand what it was doing. There are lots of very funny sections in the Wake. And I became very interested in Giambatista Vico and Bruno of Nola from reading the Wake. The time spent on Finnegans Wake was very rewarding.
And I discovered Samuel Beckett along the way. While Joyce was trying to stuff as much as he could into a book, Beckett was trying to strip as much out of a book as he could. When I'm looking for a familiar voice to keep me company, I turn to Beckett.
To read Ulysses is to live Ulysses. I have just finished reading the absolute masterpiece novel that is Joyces Ulysses. My mind is quite frankly blown away. It’s hard to convey into words how utterly life changing and mesmerising this work is. It’s abstract, it’s funny, it’s absurd, it’s ridiculous, it’s life and life it’s self all written into the most stunning beautiful prose I have read. It’s a towering epic novel that only the Brothers Karamazov rivals. Thank you for your wonderful video Benjamin, you are a diamond in the rough.
this is so abnormally timely i literally just finished reading ulysses this morning!
Wow! Congratulations on finishing it :)
I first read The Artist and then Ulysses. I did so after listening to Joseph Campbell's lectures on James Joyce's work. It really helped listening to those and reading the Artist first. Yes, I read the entirety of Ulysses. I did this about 20 years ago.
Silly question, but you are referring to his first book, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" right?
@@TheBruceKeller Yes
I fell in love with a book, and it was this book. It was my companion during many difficult episodes of my life, and would always cheer me, even at the bottom of the blackest depression. Thank you for this video. It brings back wonderful memories of my initial readings of it.
I read and fell in love with Ulysses this year. I understand and agree that you are never truly finished with this book. Along with others, I read Ulysses over 80 days to celebrate the centenary. It worked out 6-8 pages per day. Some days, those 6 pages took an hour. Other days, I wanted to keep reading on, which I did.
I have since seen Edna O'Brien's play, Joyce's Women and I intend to revisit this again. Probably sooner rather than later. Some of it went over my head, but that's ok. Reading it in a group setting made a huge difference to that.
Great way to read a book. Trying to do the same with with another long novel. I began in April, it's now November. My goal to finish by the end of the year. Im a very slow reader [in fiction]
I going to read Ulysses next year (ordered a hard cover) and act on your method 6/8 perhaps10 pages per day (in two sittings morning and bedtime) over a definite set period. Completing it in 3 months.
thank you for this video from Italy. You know Joyce was a great lover of the italian arts and we know that him and Italo Svevo were very in touch, making a very interesting bridge between italian and english literature. Sorry fo my bad english but I'm not mother tongue although you are very good and I can understood you ☺. Greetings from Bologna 👋👋
I have read this book once and tried a second time but abandoned it at page 40 .after watching this great video I have learned much and will continue reading
Congratulations, It is very gratifying to see a young man who loves good literature. I wish many more people, politicians, businessmen, etc. could follow in your footsteps. The world would be a better place to live, without a doubt.
Thank you so much. That's truly so kind of you - I really appreciate that :)
I experienced this great work in Dublin under the tutelage of Roland McHugh while studying at the School of Irish Studies in Ballsbridge in 1979. We read it aloud, every page, every paragraph in class. Joyce may have invented Meta Data, the hidden information in plain sight that places a reader in one place, at one time. To truly understand it, you must study it, and in doing so, it teaches one how to learn and observe. Only after you have studied and consumed it, can you say you have read it. You emerge changed forever.
I really enjoyed your insight! Thank you for your post. It woke me up. Great stuff. You. Made my day
The thing I love about Joyce is his work encourages us to be as well read and as humble as he was. He brings literature to life while also completely undermining the egotistic and imperial narratives of greatness and heroism that are so implicit in these works he brings to life. Abjection before humanity and affirmation before life are what I learned from him most. He transvaluates the desire to understand this difficult work into the desire to stop reifying literature, and love it, say yes to it instead, as with people.
As an aspiring intellectual at 16, I got about 10 pages in before giving up and going back to Ray Bradbury. Now, at age 75, with the invaluable assistance of Don Gifford's Annotated Ulysses, I am not plodding but wandering my way through it and enjoying it immensely. I appreciate the flow of the language but I really want to understand every reference and allusion and Gifford's book provides most. I especially like, in Joyce's many references to poems, that Gifford both identifies and then quotes the poems, which are so lyrical as the Irish bards historically are.
You have become my favorite channel on RUclips. Going to pause Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to watch this. I really want to read Ulysses one of these days!
Thank you! You’ve made my day :) And fabulous choice of music!
Nice. I was listening to Puccini’s La Bohème when I switched over to this video👍
An excellent lecture, so much peripheral detail, exactly what the reader needs approaching Ulysses. I've read it, several times, the first time in my Honours year, dipped into it countless times, regaled my wife with passages, proselytized the book to friends, and I'd like to think I've become an expert, but I haven't of course. There are passages I still find difficult, bits I don't fully understand, and every time I dip in I find something new. Ulysses is the book of life, a book for life. Thanks again for the illuminating talk.
As a 50-something forced to retire earlier than planned for health reasons, I decided to audit a class at the local university called "Modern Fiction." I thought the course would explore contemporary novels, but this was a class on Modernism. The syllabus includes works by such writers as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf and, of course, James Joyce. We were assigned "Ulysses" last week. I must thank both my instructor and you for helping me approach this book with a positive spirit of adventure and curiosity, as opposed to one of dread. We are using the Gabler Edition in class. I have emerged from Hades and am now in Aeolus. I wouldn't say it's a breeze, but reading this book certainly is not the chore I expected!
I am loving the content of your videos that I've discovered this year and they have become my favourite. No disrespect to others but most book channels focus on the number of books read and reading has never been a race for me. They mainly critique the latest bestsellers and I revel in the opportunity to delve into a deep read at my own pace, the great works. Thank you so much for reopening a door for me 🌻
Thank you, Carol :) The means a lot to me. I got caught up in using quantity as my metric for success for so many years, but it didn't make me happy. After emphasising quality, slow reading, and rereading, I experienced the most self-growth and reading once again became the joyful experience I used to love as a child! I'm so happy you're here reading with me :)
honestly i’m so glad i found your channel.. i have no one to talk about literature and your enthusiasm is very motivating .. and i have found more authors and books to check out because of you and videos thank you :)))))
Thank you, Stephanie. I'm so happy you found my channel too. I'm so thrilled that you're enjoying these great books with me!
This is one of the best channels I’ve seen.
Greetings from Sweden.
Wow, thank you so much!! I appreciate you watching over in beautiful Sweden! 🇸🇪☺️
The reading-aloud part is absolutely the key to unlocking this book. I tried reading it at least thrice before but the style and the allusions just annoyed me cause I simply hadn't, and still haven't, read all the books Joyce refers to. But when you hear it said aloud, you find that the allusions, while definitely playing a huge part in its appeal, are secondary to the sound of the words, the vocabulary, and the imagery, and yes, the story. And as someone who writes songs, I also understand why so many great songwriters and lyricists, such as Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Jim Morrison and Van Morrison are Joyce fans.
i have always wanted to read Ulysses, but the fact that English is my second language scares me, and i want to get more of homer and Shakespeare under my belt, as always great and helpful videos keep up the good work 🙏.
Your English is great! I'm sure you'll be able to get something out of Ulysses. Being able to speak more than one language is a huge benefit when it comes to Joyce. And thank you for the kind words, my friend :)
I used _Ulysses_ as a text in an ESL class for many years, and my students loved it. I ran into a woman from Argentina in the street a few years after she was in my class, and she told me she had gone to Dublin for the centennial in 2004. Don't worry. You will find much that you will love and that will become a part of your thinking thereafter; what you miss will be clear on re-reading. And you will want to re-read once it captures you.
@@cbooth2004 Wow. That's incredible, Christopher. You not only managed to use this difficult novel in your ESL class, but you ended up inspiring your student to actually go over to Dublin. You're a fantastic teacher - what a lucky class :)
Damn 16th June is my birthday
Honestly even when I don't understand I find the language beautiful and more than sufficient to keep me reading this book. The understanding, I guess, will come with time and experience, and many re-reads.
I like to read it aloud to myself.
Hi, Alice Deligny. Glad to know it's not just me! I don't think you have to plough through a lot of classics to have fun reading Ulysses although I'm guessing you'd appeciate its rich tapestry more if you did (I didn't and still loved it!).
Having read Ulysses 3 times, I recommend the RTÉ Radio production of the novel. It has been a companion since my first reading.
Terrific production! I second that great recommendation :)
What a great recommendation--I will do that alongside my reading instead of the audiobook.
Thank you so much for sharing your passion and your knowledge! I was definitely on the verge of abandoning it, and am very grateful to have this guidance and perspective as to how I can begin. Many thanks to you.
You are so welcome, Rachel! Thank you so much for your kind words and for watching :) I'm thrilled that you are persevering with Ulysses! I'd love to know how you get on with it!!
I read Blood Meridian when I was about 15 as a young literature nerd, solely because of the subject matter and how much hype had been built around it being a 'difficult read'; almost exalting it to a legendary status. I decided to move onto Ulysses after finding Blood Meridian not only a pretty easy read all in all but still remains as my favorite novel to this day. Being reread many times over.
Ulysses was not the same experience. If anything is a difficult experience, it's reading Ulysses.
However, it is indeed incredible and I've read it three times to date. I'm planning on another go around since I have some years and experience on me at this point.
It's absolutely worth the work, and work it can be.
Still haven't cracked into Gravity's Rainbow yet though. It appears damn close in terms of being laborious to get into for the first time and I've been waiting for the mood to strike me.
Wonderful video aside.
Thank you, Benjamin for your masterpiece review and recommendations. As I entered college, a young lady I befriended at the time bought me a Modern Library "Ulysses" for my birthday. I decided to read it and use it as the subject of my assigned Freshman Literature paper. The paper was about the sexuality in the book and the publishing travails. (After all, I was 18 at the time.) Made it through the book and a lot of associated sources and ended up with an A+. So, I thank you, especially for the recommendation of "The Most Dangerous Book", which I began as I paused your video long enough to acquire it online. I recently finished his book on Dostoevsky and his travails in life, leading up to and including the writing of "Crime And Punishment". Fascinating, as well. So glad you are on RUclips and I look forward to joining one of your review groups soon, Thank you for your brilliance.
I came to Ulysses as a young man just graduated from high school in a rural part of North Carolina, working-class, uneducated for the most part, unconcerned with art because for the most part totally unaware of its being, in love with the painting of Francis Bacon and for that matter of Lucian Freud, Giacometti, others especially modernist British and French artists. Their monographs were littered with allusions to Joyce's Ulysses and Eliot's The Waste Land. The first time I read Ulysses, I only made it three hundred pages in; likewise the second attempt. It was twenty years later, in my late thirties, that I finally read it through.
Finally. I was waiting for your "How to" on Ulysses since a long time.
Thank you :) I've been personally looking forward to this one myself for a long time!
A superb video. I swear to you, this compendious discourse proved as intoxicating an experience as my brushings and bruisings with Joyce's epic-of-one-day while I was nursing my terminally ill mother. This book was my counsellor, confidant, goad and opponent of those days. It has been my lifelong habit to read each book (novels, that is) just the once. I know, I know. It's swinishly stubborn of me. 😁
I really appreciate your very first point. When I first encountered Ulysses, I was filled with frustration and conceit, believing it to be pretentious (to the very definition). However, I learned over time that I was the problem and not the book. Great video! I was skeptical, at first, but you're spot on.
This is so impressive and we-ll researched! Last year, I read Ulysses twice, because I just couldn't stop myself. It was my first try, and it went so much better than I'd imagined. I read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a few years ago, and although I liked the author's experiments with style, I didn't enjoy it that much. Ulysses is in a league of its own. For the most part, I didn't need a mediator, because I don't get frustrated that easily when I discover I don't get something. I focused on the things I understood and let the rest be music and play. When I required help, I turned to The New Bloomsday Book, Stuart Gilbert's study, The Joyce Project, and Blooms & Barnacles. Later, I got so obsessed I bought other books on Ulysses.
Each chapter was an opportunity to experience the world differently. Joyce saw them as opportunities to exhaust the language, and he sure did. The beginning of each chapter served as a signpost to change my strategy. By the end of it, I felt like this was my last opportunity to savor this style.
Proteus scared me at first because it was so slippery, but then reassured me and turned out to be one of my go-to parts. It gets so much better after the first read, when you see how it connects to other chapters. Obviously, every chapter with Mr. Leopold Bloom as the main focus was a thrill. As a person, he lacks Stephen's knowledge and depth, but as a character he is infinitely more fascinating in his little problems, interests, and quirks. Nausicaa was one of the most delightful parodies I've ever read, yet at the same time it sparked so many thoughts about identity and the self-protection techniques we use, when the alternative would be tragic. Oxen of the Sun was easier than I imagined. I thought half of it would be in actual Old and Middle English. The story of Mina Purefoy's childbirth is discussed through the male lens, and Joyce replicated the style of male writers only. These imitations were so well-done, that even I recognized some authors. While Oxen explores the conscious, my favorite chapter, Circe, deals with the subconscious. It's like Joyce took the entirety of Ulysses and condensed it to a phantasmagorical play, adding so much nuance to it in the process. I also fell in love with Ithaca and Penelope, and overall I enjoyed this book in all its forms, be it a history lesson, a discussion about Shakespeare, a fugue, a list of wedding guests who all happen to have tree names, a catechism whose purpose isn't to answer our questions, or a never ending stream of thoughts. Good luck with the book club! I'm sure you'll have a blast exploring different aspects of it together!
I've just discovered your channel a few days ago and thoroughly appreciate your thoughtful and accessible videos. You've inspired me to pick up Ulysses and try again! And to also read The Odyssey. Thank you so very much for your wonderful channel and have a fabulous day ☺️
That's so awesome! I'd love to hear what you make of Joyce and Homer :) Thank you for watching, and have a fabulous day yourself!
Hi Ben, I bought a copy this year and now you have provided more than enough inspiration and guidance! I'm truly grateful! You're doing amazing things here on booktube! 💞
Aw, that's so amazing to hear :) And thank you for your kind words! I'd love to know how you get on with Ulysses :)
I may pick up this one at some point. I’ve been put off Joyce in the past, but I loved Dubliners, which has some of the most hauntingly beautiful stories that I’ve ever read. “The Dead” makes my heart ache.
'Hauntingly beautiful' is the perfect description of that story!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I discovered it at a time when I was obsessed with ghost stories, and in a sense it felt like the perfect ghost story. 🙂
Stumbled at first; now enjoying the sing-song narrative, interspersed with tangential thoughts, a hicklety picklety language I'm beginning to love. Early days. Page ninety.
I just finished Ulysses yesterday, (after many runs). I read it in Hungarian, we have a new translation from 2012, as I know, it's the third H. translation. The last three chapters are for me phenomenal - and I have the whole book to read again.
Dubliners and The Portrait of the Artist...are my favourits for years, so I'm glad to know Ulysses too.
Your video is SUPERB for me, THANK YOU!!
Köszönöm a kedves szavakat, Mária! I completely agree with you on those last few chapters. Exhilarating stuff :) Congratulations on finishing Ulysses! And happy reading :)
Thank you very much! It's great help!
_
I'm now reading 'Ulysses'. I wish I had started earlier.
_
Two favourite quotes:
1. 'Travel round in front of the sun, steal a day’s march on him. Keep it up for ever never grow a day older technically.' (Part II / Chapter 4 - Calypso)
2. '...Do you know what is the proudest word you will ever hear from an Englishman’s mouth?
....
-That on his empire, Stephen said, the sun never sets. ***
-Ba! - Mr Deasy cried. - That’s not English. A French Celt said that.
...
I paid my way. ' ***
'_
Good man, good man.
_
- I paid my way. I never borrowed a shilling in my life. Can you feel that? I owe nothing.'
_
(Part 1/Chapter 2 - Nestor)
To be honest, as a student majoring in English, your videos really help me a lot with literature stuff.
I'm so happy to hear I can help :) Good luck with your studies!!
I read Ulysses in 2019, in a group reading, with the help of couple of online guides. We started on January 1st, very slowly, and we timed it so that we would reach the end by Bloomsday. :) English is my second language, but I had an old English language copy at home and I took my chances with it. I was just telling my wife about this video and reminiscing (she read it too, but in Spanish translation). Now I think I need to re-read it, but my to-read pile is huge and I've just added Dubliners and Portrait... to it.
I think your attitude to this is fantastic Pablo! Best wishes from New Zealand.
Genius idea, i'm here just in time to do the same, i just have to read the entire portrait of the artist in the next 6 days
Great narrative on the subject. Your content inspires me to open the book again. It has been lying in that corner of my shelf unread for two decades now. Thanks for sharing the research.
I'm aiming to start reading Joyce more this year, specifically since I've been reading through the works of Samuel Beckett lately, and I know Beckett worked closely with Joyce during the creation of Finnegans Wake. So, I know I'm coming at Joyce a bit backward, and it's good to see other works that'll make better sense of Ulysses.
Thanks for this! I read Ulysses earlier this year. Most of the time I didn't really enjoy it, in fact I skimmed it here and there. But when I eventually finished it I felt like I wanted to start it all over again. I know I will read it again in the future.
That sounds like a tremendously successful reading to me! Your lingering sense of wanting to start it all over again is very exciting. You'll absolutely get more and more out of it with every read. Joyce took me quite a few years to learn to love, and my first readings looked very similar to yours. I have a feeling this will become a special book to you in the future!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you for the encouraging words!
Thank you for these wonderful series. Had a few of them downloaded.
Currently reading three monumental works in parallel (and the harmony is unparalleled):
-Ulysses
-The Magic Mountain
-Remembrance of things past (just started prt 2 Within a Budding Grove)
Thank you so much for this! Truly fascinating and interesting content filled with such great information! I’m currently studying for my comprehensive exams for my PhD and Ulysses is a monumental text on my list since I am going to be specializing in modernism… So thank you!
Thank you❣ I'm in my lunch time watching this.
Nice one :) Have a great lunch break!
I am 19 and I read Ulysses last month, and it’s now my favourite book of all time. It is the book to end all books.
Congratulations on reading Ulysses! And at 19, that’s incredibly impressive. I’m thrilled to hear it’s become your favourite! :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thanks Ben! I used Ulysses Unbound by Terrence Killeen as my guide. I used to say I was Dante and that book was my Virgil. I would read a chapter in Ulysses then the corresponding chapter in that book and it helped everything become accessible to me. I also listened to the audiobook you mentioned and it made it the best reading experience of my life. The book is hilarious and moving, and I agree with Column McCann where he said Ulysses has the power to bring us face to face with our own heritage and to understand ourselves. He even went so far to say he saw his dead great grandfather walk across his room and sit in a chair, as the Dublin from Ulysses is the same Dublin in which he would have lived in. Everything his family did and how they acted now makes sense as the book can act almost like a time machine. I feel exactly the same way for my own Irish heritage, as the stories of Bloom and Dedalus helped me come to terms with the losses of my grandparents, as while I read the book I lived in the world in which they lived in. It also helped me connect with my mum on a deeper level as I began to understand her upbringing and why she is how she is. To see how Bloom coped with the loss of his daughter and his fathers suicide while still staying strong made ME feel strong, and the friendship the two developed over the cup of cocoa made me appreciate the smaller moments with my own friends and family. It really has changed my life for the future, and I believe I have become a keen observer of all things great and small. It truly is a transformative book, and I think there are parts of us all scattered throughout.
I am in my gap year before I start my English and History joint honours degree, so I have been reading broadly and tackling the "best of the best" in classic literature. You have guided most of my choices and I come to your channel for a deeper understanding and to hear your points of view. I will say out of this year my favourite books so far are Ulysses, Crime and Punishment, Moby Dick, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I am currently reading The Brothers Karamazov and I can tell it will definitely be added to this list once I finish. I would love to see you do a video on it!
Umm it’s boring
@@BeantbeantbeantThank you for your encouraging comment and sharing your personal experience. I was deeply touched by the comparison with Dante and Virgil. I will definitely go to the Book!
I love this Thank You! I'm making a note to myself for reminders at 12 and at 46 mins. Recently dove into War and Peace (again) upon your recommendation. Next up Joyce.
👍👌😃💝
Thanks so much for doing this. It inspired me to get a copy of Ulysses, and so far - I'm loving it! It's so beautifully written and poetic. Which is how I'm reading it - slowly, like a prose poem.
And that's a genuine tribute, from someone who vowed she would never read any more Joyce at the age of 18, having done Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist...' for English A' level. ..and hated it. I'm probably a good example of how often times, some books need to be read at certain times in your life. I was clearly too young and 'unread' then for Joyce. Many thanks!
i’m reading ulysses now and this video just appeared to me so i wanted to say this is such a good work you’ve been doing. i just loved your video, loved your commentaries about the book, and i was thinking of giving up the reading (in this exact moment i’m in the aeolus chapter), but i won’t because of you!
since you’re such a lover of great literature, i’d like to thank your work by recommending you a brazilian writer (i’m from Brazil😁): Clarice Lispector. Pleeeease, read any of her books! She’s one of the greatest intellectuals of our country, and is influenced by james joyce (one of her novels is called near to the wild heart. However, i’d say you should start with the passion according G.H.). I’m sure that you’ll love it. :)
I read a portrait of the artist as a young man for A levels and I found it a really challenging but rewarding read... I had a really great teacher for Literature at the time and she really did a fantastic job with Joyce. I am intimidated by Joyce and so quite reluctant to read Ullyses on my own without the assistance of other readers and perhaps a lecturer to guide me through it. Perhaps I will give it a go some day. Thank you for this wonderful video.
Portrait of the artist is like reading a comic book compared to Ulysses
Thank you very much, Benjamin. As a non-native English speaker, Ulysses is even a bit more of a challenge for me, but there's no way I'd go for a translation. Your suggestions are invaluable to me.
My suggestion to other readers who want to experience Ulysses but possess a pea brain like i do -- just do the following:
1. Read The Odyssey and Hamlet, and the other two books Joyce wrote before Ulysses.
2. Keep this site called The Joyce Project open on the side as you start reading the book. They have brief explanations for all the obscure allusions that may confuse you.
3. This one may look like cheating but actually helps: READ A CHAPTER SUMMARY BEFORE READING THE ACTUAL CHAPTER IN THE NOVEL. I know this sounds lame, but sometimes I had no idea what the heck was going on in the book and had to read chapter summaries to figure it out. So I decided to reverse that and went into each chapter with a basic idea of what's about to happen so I could actually appreciate what Joyce was doing. Helped me actually enjoy the book.
4. This one's important: listen to an audiobook in some capacity. It's a book that's meant to be read aloud, and there is an awesome dramatic reading of the book available here on RUclips for free. I finished the book by accompanying my reading of the last few chapters with the audiobook playing and it was very engaging.
5. Listen to Kate Bush's "The Sensual World" to motivate yourself to reach the end. It's a great song!
You're welcome.
These are amazing tips! Thank you so much for sharing them :) What you've written about reading chapter summaries before the actual chapter is so important. Many readers will get heaps more enjoyment out of the book by doing this. And nice to have a fellow Kate Bush fan here :) Around the time I was putting together the Wuthering Heights lectures, I listened to Kate Bush on repeat.. Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home.." 🎶
This ❤...
I can’t believe this content is free, thank you
I'm so happy you're enjoying it :) Happy reading, Rose!
Simple. Read along with the Naxos CDs. Jim Norton's performance as several different characters is stunning.
Thank you. You have motivated me to make another attempt to read Ulysses.
I'm so happy to hear that, Helena! :)
Many thanks! 😀
Definitely one of the best videos about Ulysses. (I saw about 20.)
Great book recommendations!
I am close to 80% through at the first listening.
A compendium work is highly recommended for lit. boobs like me.
Keep up the good work! 📚
Re-reading books I have read before has been very enlightening and to listen while I read I have found useful as well!
I got the Alma edition recently and plan to start my journey through the Ulysses. Thanks for the detailed info! ❤❤❤
I'm so happy to hear that, Hermes :) I'd love to know what you make of Ulysses! Happy reading, my friend :)
Decades ago a professor of mine warned us of Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake. He referred to both as “impossible novels”, which has always piqued my interest. I had a copy of Finnegan’s Wake for many years after college and never broke the spine. This video helps demystify Joyce for me, an author who’s always seemed foreboding. On to Book Depository to order Ulysses!
That professor should have been fired right away. Ulysses is absolutely wonderful - just keep reading and do not insist on 'understanding' all of it at the first go. Lots of wonderful stuff in the Wake too (and by the way, it really is Finnegans Wake, no apostrophe).
I'm like you, Jeremy! The surest way to get me to read something is to call it impossible or unreadable. Even better if the book has been censored and banned :) So Ulysses ticks quite a few boxes there! With these seemingly impenetrable works, I've always taken it as a personal challenge to break into them and love them. As for Finnegans Wake, without giving too much away, we may very well have some content on this one in the future! Happy reading, and let me know what you make of Ulysses!
I have read it several times now and go back to favourite episodes every few years ... the episode I found most difficult was The Sirens, in which every little sound has an equal emphasis. One of the most unpopular sections,, the penultimate one with its question and answer format is the one I love most, though the dramatic interlude with Stephen, Bloom and Bella is the funniest. The Molly monologue is, of course the most justly famous.
I first read it at twenty one, as an adventure, and an adventure it certainly was.
Excellent. I have studied joyce and you said it all, congrat!
Thank you :) I really appreciate that!
great video as always Benjamin. I am listening to Ulysses at the moment. I am finding the stream of consciousness very tough but beautiful language
Thank you so much, Denis! I really appreciate that :) I'm thrilled you're enjoying Joyce's prose style. It's definitely a challenge, but, as you say, very beautiful!
Utterly inspiring! Superb. I love Ulysses and on the fourth reading of it and finding new depths. I’m laughing my head off on The Cyclops chapter with the ridiculous juxtaposition of the mythical and the banality of the real. Loved your video! 👌👌👌👌👌
Your tip about reading with the Jim Norton audiobook is spot on - after two fails I got hold of the 23 CDs and everything became clear!
Nice one, Ian! Definitely a magical audiobook :)
wonderful Ben !..... would love to see you tackle Fernando Pessoa's "The Book of Disquiet" in the series, best always.
Ulysses IS fun to read! And funny!! I quite regret that I didn't read it decades sooner!!! Joyce's own chart was a welcome boon, but, honestly, most of the references (maybe aside from the streets of Dublin for some among us who haven't been there) are quite familiar, aren't they: Shakespeare, Greeks, Dante ... What a pleasure. Thanks for encouraging folks to turn those pages. And Hamlet, et al ;^)
Please forget my previous question re audible choice. I've listened more carefully and you've answered my question...thank you.
Thank you Ben. So appreciate your work here and on your website!
Aw, thank you so much! I really appreciate you being here with me! ☺️
This is wonderful. I've owned a copy of Ulysses for 30 years but it has intimidated me too much to even start. Lately, though, I've dipped into a few chapters and have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed it so far. This is a superb introduction. Now, if only I can find a proper group to enjoy it with.
That's so amazing to hear :) Thank you for your kind words, and I hope you keep enjoying Ulysses! I'd love to know what you make of it once you get through it :)
Funny that you upload this video just after I started The Odyssey. I must take this as a sign
It's definitely a sign ;)
You are a brilliant wordsmith, actor and teacher.
Ready to give this another attempt. Just finishing the much more accessible Dubliners today. That is my prep. I also bought a guide book.
That's awesome :) Sounds like you're set up perfectly!
I enthusiastically concur with your recommendation of Jim Nolan's narration ( and the music! ) on the audiobook rendition - and just as much with regard to 'The Most Dangerous Book'! Both are truly excellent! Indeed, it was deep-reading the text along with Nolan's narration that 'broke open' Ulysses for me. This video has so rekindled my ardour to get back into that world that I've just splashed out on the Cambridge University Press's Centenary Edition of Ulysses. It's a massive tome so I'll be keeping my trusty Penguin edition close at hand! Great video again - many thanks!
I have tried ,and failed to read Ulysses..more than 50 years ago..following your excellent summation I may try again..
I have been reading from a young age. Overtime i read some 'difficult 'books . I even read Dante in Italian (I'm rather proud of that one ..ahumm ;) But i never managed to finish Ulysses for some reason or another. Not for a lack of trying 😅You convinced me, so I'm going to give it another try.
Dante in Italian! That's one of my personal reading goals right there :) I've gone through a few different translations into English, but they always leave me wanting the original. And nice one on deciding to dive into Ulysses. I'd love to hear what you make of it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you .
Thanks for this presentation! I plan on returning to Ulysses at the end of next month.
I have already reread The Odyssey and will revisit Hamlet and Ibsen, who I've been told Joyce loved.
Reading Ulysses because we can is an interesting notion.
America is going through a particularly bad patch right now, maybe literature might become a target. Of course that's giving some people more credit than they deserve.
Maybe literature might become a target. May be. Prescient I'd say.
I've always loved books but found even Harry Potter difficult however I got diagoised as dyslexic at 32 which now makes my life so much easier. This has been so helpful for an author that has terrified me. Also such great tips in the comments. I read Dante's inferno a few times in the last 7 years but never really understood it but I still enjoyed it. I'm hoping now I've found this fantastic channel I can broaden my literacy horizons so if anyone has any book recommendations or tips on how to read Shakespeare and other classic books it would be most appreciated.
If you can read a synopsis and/or go to a performance of the play it does help. Reading it out loud can be helpful too.
For reading Shakespeare, try The Arden Shakespeare, very informative with regards his plots and explanations of the script in full,even to the point where every line is examined. There is a book for every play.
So enjoy listening to your wandering poetry of thought and language.
I read Ulysses this year after reading Hamlet, The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, googling every other sentence, writing in the margins and filling them up with ink. I learned about metempsychosis, but not much else. After that I read 'Portrait Of An Artist' and now with a guidebook to assist me. Hopefully I can learn something else this time.
Wow, I'm 53 and finally overcoming my own prejudices and arrogance about this book, thanks to this video.
That's so great to hear, Kate! :)
I love your content so much, I very rarely comment unless I feel as if it is imperative to show my appreciation. Thank you for being one of the few book loving friends in my life- if I can refer to you as a “friend”. I’ve been waiting for a video on this! May I ask, what are your thoughts on an English and creative writing degree; I am torn between either an English literature degree, an English and American literature degree or my prior mentioned degree but I fail to decipher this puzzle? I’m 18 and have taken a gap year for many reasons, one being to gain some time to mature and decide my future. I’m an aspiring writer and lover of literature (by lover I mean I am truly enamoured by anything to do with literature).
Thank you for any insight you can give, I very much appreciate the time it takes to make this content and respond to comments.
I had the same thought and question: Should I make a serious study of literature? No! said I to myself, why ruin a good thing? I did anthropology, comparative religion, linguistics, and have never been sorry. I’m a stone’s throw from eighty now, a couple years beyond you.
@@buddharuci2701 Haha, only a couple years older; what a pleasure it is to communicate with yourself I find different walks of life and experiences fascinating. I think I’m going to just chase my dreams and forget about the repercussions for the most part. I’ll keep researching the three possible degrees I wish to do and eventually when it is time to decide I will know what I want (hopefully). That degree sounds great though and I’m glad it was the right choice for yourself.
Thank you, Kieran. That really means a lot to me. I consider you all my friends too. It can be difficult to find people in our day-to-day lives who want to discuss these difficult works as deeply as we do. Despite its issues, the internet is really quite a beautiful tool that connects like-minded people from all over the world.
To address your question - my degree was in English Language and Literature, though I toyed with taking Creative Writing. I had thought I might go into journalism when I was younger, and was also interested to learn how to write different forms of fiction and non-fiction. It's a difficult question that I think only you would know the answer to in your heart. Gap years are a great opportunity to read as much as possible, write, think, and explore, and you might find that your gut is telling you to go in one direction more than another. Two questions that might help you: 1. Would you regret not going? and 2. If you didn't go, what would you do instead? A lot also depends on where you're going and the particular program you're looking at. Will it help you in the direction you want to follow? Does the course/syllabus look challenging and inspiring?
Just some thoughts to mull over. At 18, there isn't a right or wrong answer, and you have a ton of room to change what you want to do several times over until things feel right. Your gut is wise, and at a certain point one needs to take a leap of faith!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy
No thank you. I just needed another person’s voice on this matter and you have helped tremendously. I just don’t want to do English and creative writing joint honours for two reasons: reason one being I’m worried it would sacrifice some of the reading and critical analysis of great works that you find in doing just English literature on its own. Reason two is more personal- I suppose I wish to be a writer like McCarthy, Dickens, Plath, Joyce and King, to name a few I find inspiring. However, will the creative writing side of my (possible) degree be wasteful because I can’t become a writer due to the one in a million chance of it becoming a reality. Not to mention the fact that I’m looking at getting a C in English and coming out overall with BCC at best meaning is there even a point in trying? Where would I even go? Is it worth even going to the places I could go? Sorry I’m a messy person and just trying to figure it all out- I just struggled during my A levels because of how I was taught at GCSE level and how my mind works which I’ve fought against massively and I’m proud to say that a good C was an impressive jump from where I begun. I begun year 12 writing half a page for a 25 marker. I left writing 3 pages of far better quality. Anyway, ignore me I have a tendency to ramble whilst texting.
Thank you for your time.
@@kieranhooton9665 I'm so impressed at your perseverance and belief in yourself. You've realised already that academic results are not a reflection of ability or potential - that is a great achievement at your age. Tolstoy quit University and went off to experience the university of life. I have no answer to your question, but am convinced that a young person of your self awareness will find the answer within.
I’m three or so minutes in, and already I’m chuck full of thoughts: if possible, read it together with others whose backgrounds are vastly varied. Allow yourself to befriend Poldy, Molly, Stephen, et al. as you slowly get to know them. Do not berate yourself for not understanding this and that. Enjoy the shifting sands of style you meet as you go along. Finally, to get into the style of Joycean prose - there’s really no such thing, but what the hey! - consider reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. And follow all Benjamin’s suggestions, but again, you can approach this book from any one of a thousand perspectives, psychology being a particularly popular one. You read all this? My apologies. Cheers. Michael
These are incredible tips. Insightful and really beautifully written! Thank you so much for sharing, Michael :)
thanks so much for this video Ben, it's lovely and it's very helpful. I had to read Ulysses at college and then I read Ulysses a few times without any pressure, which was of course more fun. I totally agree with your point "listening and reading aloud". I'm now translating a book about Joyce and re-reading (actually listening to) Ulysses one more time. There is a podcast produced by RTE Radio 1 in 1982 and it's available online. Please check it out if you haven't already. I think it's a superb adaptation of the book and it helps readers (also listeners) to understand the book much easier than reading it quietly in a room by yourself surrounded by pile of dictionaries and guide books. all the best!
Cambridge centenary edition looks pretty good as well. Supposed to come back to print next month.
Just wonderful. Thank you so much for your energy and scope. Will search around your output but I am hoping you have something on Finnegans Wake too?
Thank you :) I'm so happy you enjoyed it! I've been keeping it a bit of a secret, but I am actually working on some content for Finnegans Wake at the moment. So we should have something out in the not-too-distant future!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Oh, that would be really really great. I like your approach to all of this so much. Thank you. Greetings from a Romani Irish philosopher in Spain.
OMG,...this started to fell like Ulysses itself. Absolutely fabulous but will require multiple views and explanations to understand what's going on. Bravo ... but!!! Well done!
Ulysses hit me like a ton of bricks (in a good way). Since then I've went on loads of joyce tours. I ve done sandycove martello tower last week and am doing a tour of his house this Friday. I also did a litreture pub crawl in Dublin, run by Joycian actors finishing in Davy byrnes pub where there is a first edition of ulysses on display
Thank you for this! I've been planning to read it after my exams.
That's awesome :) Good luck with your exams, and happy reading!
Try "The CodeX Cantina" summary on the first part of the book The Sisters, to kick you off. I did and having found out about James Joyce from another reader who felt that Leo Tolstoy (Russian) and James Joyce amongst others have not been given the recognition they deserve as writers who understood humanity so severely while the same humanity understood them not; has found it a little easier to read it. I am reading Frank Kafka's Metamorphosis at the moment. He is great at mirroring the human race in his writing.
Fairly new to your work but find it both delightful and instructive. I read half of it in the '70s, then finished it, and Finnegans Wake, over COVID, with the help of Audible, Gilbert Stuart's Ulysses Chart, an online summation of the Wake's chapters, online text, and Campbell's Skeleton Key and one other very excellent book of the Wake by Tindall, or something like that. The pages all came unglued and fell out. After finishing Ulysses, I found an online version of the Wake, and had my browser read it to me as I followed along, so it was rather robotic, although Robot was pretty damn good with the sesquipedalia. But as soon as I was done with that way of doing it, Audible came out with a brand-new full Wake, which I immediately bought and listened to. I have been chipping away since the '70s and so it was wondrous and a relief of sorts to finally git 'er done, so to speak.
Recently I discovered a direct family connection to Sir Tristram from North Armorica who apparently came to Howth, changed named to St Lawrence, who is also related, being the same dude. Some of the ancestors are so connected to so many people of note, I can understand the notion of HCE, because here comes everybody, once you dig a little. Thanks again. Reading for the sentiment.
Thought I'd spend much of Tuesday sitting and waiting so I picked up the recording with Norton. Have been enjoying it all on it's own, though I'm about to get my hard copy off the shelf.
That's amazing! One of my favourite things is to take long walks with audio recordings of Ulysses. The Jim Norton one is masterful :)
All these suggestions are useful and good. My top pick is "Read Ulysses because you can." Writing from the USA, I am going to add, "...and while you can" in view of the appalling renaissance of the spirit of censorship in this country. And not just from the old familiar sources. Thanks for including that exhortation. Liberty of thought and expression are precious beyond compare.
Reading a little Irish history will be very helpful ... Parnell, the Phoenix Park murders and the political situation int the dawn of the twentieth century will clarify some sections.
Hi, I just bought the penguin kindle version of Ulysses, annotated by Andrew Gibson. It will be released 2 May 2024. I had a try years ago and I stopped right at the spot you mentioned. I do write as well: I guess James Joyce is a writers writer.