Leopold and Stephen have a day

November 25, 2007 7:44 PM

Ulysses - An Irish guy (in West Virginia) reads Ulysses and posts it to the web in 20 parts. It's a work best appreciated when read aloud and here is someone who has read it aloud just for you. (ultra-condensed version here )

Everybody loves the book, but not everybody loves the work. Thank you iremonger for your effort. He did a nice job too, and at free it is a lot cheaper than the commercial audiobook.

posted by caddis (21 comments total)

How many other people took 2-3 years to notice that "<ul> CSS" is, in fact, Ulysses?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:00 PM on November 25, 2007 [3 favorites]

Thanks for this, I was actually thinking last week if there was an audiobook for Ulysses. I tried to read the thing at least 3 times and it didn't work--maybe listening to it is better.
posted by zardoz at 8:08 PM on November 25, 2007

I once read Neuromancer to a long-distance girlfriend in a series of mailed tapes. In spite of this, she eventually became my not-so-long-distance girlfriend.
posted by dreamsign at 8:32 PM on November 25, 2007 [7 favorites]

Listening to Donal Donnelly's reading of Ulysses was one of the great literary experiences of my life. I'll have to check out this (other) Irish Guy's version. If it falls short for you, though, check out the Donal Donnelly one. Some libraries have it, and it's amazing.
posted by alms at 8:40 PM on November 25, 2007

I think my favorite part of this is the Friends-style episode titles. Especially "The one in which Joyce is taking the piss".
posted by moss at 8:42 PM on November 25, 2007

Oh, cool! I'm in the middle of rereading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and he's done that one too: http://odeo.com/audio/16549023/view
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 8:46 PM on November 25, 2007

Excellent post! I may now finish the book.
posted by McLir at 8:50 PM on November 25, 2007

Wow. This is really well put together. And I appreciate the annotations.

Good one, caddis.
posted by dreamsign at 8:54 PM on November 25, 2007

This is really nice.

Maybe this will be the way I can get through the whole thing!

Thanks!
posted by winna at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2007

Cripes.

I'd pay Matt another $5 , for this alone.

Thanks.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:53 PM on November 25, 2007

I've avoided Joyce for years. I recently decided to read Araby for a girl I've never met but want to meet. She's waiting for my review. Most likely, I'd never have bothered this early in life if it were not for something like this. And I'm sure I'll like it. Unless we meet and it all goes to shit from there, of course.
posted by christopherious at 10:31 PM on November 25, 2007

I should give this a listen.

I adore Dubliners but within two pages I was out of Ulysses. (Oddly, I enjoyed the The Acid House, which in places I had to read aloud to understand...maybe I just didn't give myself a chance with the bigger book.)
posted by maxwelton at 12:30 AM on November 26, 2007

I've got scratchy old LP's of Milo O'Shea reading the first chapter, and Siobhán McKenna reading the final chapter. Always thought more people would get into Ulysses if they heard it read aloud... looks like a great site, and a link well worth spreading around.
posted by El Brendano at 2:13 AM on November 26, 2007

Excellent, and I'll feel sorry for the guy when the notoriously litigitous Joyce estate notices.
posted by ardgedee at 3:31 AM on November 26, 2007

Is there a tip jar?

I've never been able to read translitterated English very well, it not being my native language. This should do it...
posted by froghopper at 5:46 AM on November 26, 2007

El Brendano, I'm sure that many here would love to see those recordings online somewhere...
posted by fake at 8:00 AM on November 26, 2007

Nifty, thanks.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:17 AM on November 26, 2007

Awesome post, Caddis.
posted by Skygazer at 11:49 AM on November 26, 2007

The times I've tried to get through Ulysses, I've always found myself rereading passages aloud. Unfortunately I haven't had the time I've always wanted to invest in finishing it (and it's been in my "to read" pile for longer than I'd ever admit.) I'm going to give this a try. This is a great post caddis, thanks.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:06 PM on November 26, 2007

Thanks for this! I've read it and have been meaning to go back and do so again. The audio approach might be an even better alternative.
posted by damnthesehumanhands at 2:14 PM on November 26, 2007

There appear to be two other public domain readings of "Ulysses":

LibriVox

Paigerella

(I haven't listened to either of these but they look interesting as well.)
posted by caddis at 7:38 AM on November 29, 2007