An essay about errors in Ulysses by James Joyce

September 10, 2023 2:20 PM

For students of tone, it’s interesting to see how long the editors can keep a straight face as, soberly and diligently, they write entry after entry, using a printed source for each and acknowledging the help of many named Joyceans. At times, you can almost hear a sigh or muffled laughter. In the Cyclops episode, there is a long, long list of saints, the majority only too real, that includes ‘S. Anonymous and S. Eponymous and S. Pseudonymous and S. Homonymous and S. Paronymous and S. Synonymous’. The annotation tells us: ‘Not actually saints.’

–Arruginated by Colm Tóibín, with an accompanying podcast discussion.
posted by Kattullus (13 comments total)

Never been able to make it through more than a couple of chapters of Ulysses.

I am a plebeian I guess.

But, Academia is going to academia I guess...?
posted by Windopaene at 4:24 PM on September 10, 2023

I became interested in a gloss on page 1230

This tells me a lot about this endeavor!

Now do Finnegans Wake

[This is a great essay about what sounds like a fascinating, possibly useless work of staggering investigative effort. And it does end as I expected it would, yes.]
posted by chavenet at 4:29 PM on September 10, 2023 [4 favorites]

As much as Joyce is my favorite writer, primarily because of Finnegans Wake, and I have built a pretty good library of books to help sail through his writings, I may finally pass on acquiring this book. There has been a lot of controversy about new editions, such as Gabler’s and the Restored Finnegans Wake, a lot revolving around the family approving these books as a way of maintaining copyright to these still in print works, in various editions. And there is the still busy Joyce Industry in academia, cranking out yet another this is what he really wrote or meant analysis. Joyce’s books do require some support for the reader, but having a stack of annotations, commentaries, etc next to you as you read, with you having to stop repeatedly every few lines to consult them because something may lie there important that you just don’t want to miss it, ultimately ruins the raw experience of just reading the text. Read first. Page after page. Then maybe at the end of the chapter, review, look things up, but don’t obsess about it. One of the hurdles of reading Joyce is letting go of the need for 100% reading comprehension as you proceed. Just read it, out loud, and listen to the music of the words. Things obscure will clarify over time. Or best of all, read it with a group of people, out loud. And by out loud, don’t rely on the audio book versions. You’ll be listening to that reader’s interpretation. Your spoken version is best for you.
posted by njohnson23 at 5:15 PM on September 10, 2023 [9 favorites]

"I have added to Circe a Messianic scene with a litany sung in honour [of the titles of the adventures]

Kidney of Bloom, pray for us!
Flower of the Bath, pray for us!
Mentor of Menton, pray for us!
Canvasser of the Freeman, pray for us!
Charitable Mason, pray for us!
Wandering Soap, pray for us!
Music without Words, pray for us!
Reprover of the Citizen, pray for us!
Friend of all Frillies, pray for us!
Midwife Most Merciful, pray for us!

[…] the last word of Ulysses. Here it is: yes."

-ca. 12 August 1921, Letters I (JJ to Valery Larbaud)
posted by clavdivs at 7:16 PM on September 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Never been able to make it through more than a couple of chapters of Ulysses.

Listen to it on audio in segments. It's like the best live prose-poetry ever.
posted by ovvl at 7:28 PM on September 10, 2023 [6 favorites]

“All I ask of my readers is that they devote their lives to my work”

The Strange Case of the Missing Joyce Scholar
posted by a Rrose by any other name at 7:34 PM on September 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

it really is amazing in audio, told in a Dublin irish accent
posted by ntk at 12:26 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have never read Ullysses....in a linear fashion. I dip in anywhere and read (sometimes aloud in a Dublin accent)

Joyce was the only person who could overthink Ulysses. I am unconvinced there are errors in Ulysses. Joyce was an epic messer, and sure it's all grand, you just don't want to be disturbing the flow of it if you miss a few mistakes along the way. And anyway if you change them, it's no longer what it was, is it?
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 1:54 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

Brilliant, brilliant novel. There is just so much in it and it is so much fun to read. I've only read it through once and that is far too little.

I posted here before some tips on reading Ulysses.
posted by vacapinta at 5:52 AM on September 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

Obligatory
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 6:27 AM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

This wonderful site includes the Annotations as one of its sources for its … annotations.
posted by chavenet at 12:41 PM on September 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

Agree 100% with the people who recommend listening to it. And you really don't have to take it seriously. I mean, you can if you want, but it's fine just to skip around and/or let it roll over you. That advice from vacapinta is good.
posted by tangerine at 2:16 PM on September 11, 2023

I love Ulysses and have read it many times. Finnegans Wake is the one I always just dip into for the sensory pleasures and hidden prose poems but never even attempt to read sequentially!
posted by fncll at 10:28 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]