this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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I'm slowly (although understandably, I believe) going through Ulysses by James Joyce and I'm trying to find a balance between the massive notes and engaging with the text itself.
I know that, especially in the English speaking literary world, it is customary to stand in the former camp but I can't really gel with that, it feels like I'm reading something other than the book, and I didn't really have this problem with Dubliners.
When I end up reading all of it I suppose I would then be ok going back to it later on reading all of the notes, but I've tried doing that as a first read and it didn't really work for me.
It's 's too early to even connect some thoughts, so I'm more looking for recommendations than able to give some to others!
How approachable is Dubliners? I read some fairly dense stuff but I've always avoided Joyce (and most modernist stuff like Woolf, Proust, etc) because it's intimidating.
Out of the three authors you mentioned I think Joyce is the least approachable to be honest: Proust's one difficulty is his very slow rhythm (and if you manage to adjust to it there's a nice payoff on the other side, I loved the first book of the recherche) and I generally find Woolf quite pleasant to read so I'm not the right person to ask on the account of any difficulties in reading her work.
To ge back to Dubliners you may encounter some difficulties with the things left unsaid or only to be understood thanks to a wider context; it is however a much simpler writing mechanism than all that happens in Ulysses. I got by with some introductory notes that didn't bog me down that much and I enjoyed the effect Joyce was aiming for in those works.
I hope I was helpful and I gave you enough context to judge my point of view relative to what your tastes may be.