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[betty_p]

Who wants to read Joyce's Ulysses with me this summer? I'm teaching a course on literary censorship in the fall and I don't see how I can exclude this text--and yet, I'm not really that comfortable teaching it, since I understand it only so minimally.

It's 18 chapters long; at a chapter a day (not counting weekends), I figure we can be done by the end of June.

I have a couple of guide books at my disposal; any other outside help would be, well, helpful.

Anybody in? I'm hoping to start on June 1 (next Wednesday).

[dr_alcott]

I'm considering it. Honestly, I don't know if I can do a chapter a day, though--I'm staying at home with the kids FT while my husband teaches. I'm sure there will be days when I won't get through a chapter, and then I'd have to start an "Embarrassed that I can't keep up with Ulysses" thread.

What edition are you using, Betty P, and does it matter?

[lenniel]

I'm in, betty_p!  I may not be able to start on Wednesday as I have to travel in the next two weeks, but if I pack a copy along with me, I should be able to catch up by mid-June.  I'm by no means a literary scholar, but have wanted to read Ulysses for a long time.   I look forward to lurking at the edges of the discussion and learning from everyone.  What a great idea!

[chaosbydesign]

Sure, why not. I have read half of it and the end, but I'd like to read the whole thing. I'll have to join in a bit later, though, as my copy of Ulysses is not currently in the same place as I am.

[marigolds]

I'm in. Somebody chase me down and PM me so. Have something in my mailbox on the magical day of starting, OK?

I'm going to go root through old boxes of books. I have a reader's guide somewhere.

[polly_mer]

Count me in. 

A chapter a day sounds doable to me.

[academic_cog]

Yay! Wait, I'm supposed to be reading on my own research stuff. I may "follow along" rather than actually reread. But I do love that novel!

If I can humbly suggest, though, I don't think a chapter a day is doable after about the first three chapters. Those are in fairly straightforward narration like a realist novel or _Portrait of the Artist_; after that, Joyce becomes very experimental in style and each chapter has a stylistic "conceit" or something that he is playing with and those chapters tend to be much harder, slower going.

I took a grad seminar on Irish modernism and I think we did a chapter a week of Ulysses and that was a *great* pace --- not at all stressful and we got a lot of discussion out of each section. Hmm, we might have read the first four chapters in one week and then slowed down.

And I feel like this should somehow coincide with Bloomsday as either the start of the ending. 


Ok, I can't figure out how to do a highlighted link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday

[drkinbote]

I might pop in, too--I need to re-read it at some point this summer to prep for teaching it next year. I am not sure I can start next week because of other deadlines, but I will try!

A couple of thoughts:
--the episode a day idea may, as has been suggested, fall apart. Episodes that may need more time include:
"Cyclops"
"Oxen of the Sun" (though I recommend not reading this the first time through but rather listening to it--there is a great audio version available on iTunes. "Proteus," "Penelope," and "Circe all make good listening, too)
"Circe" (it's a 250+-page play)
I think "Proteus" takes more time too, though some might disagree. The writing there is difficult but gorgeous. Talking about it with students and colleagues over the years and looking at how they sell the audio book on iTunes--with the first 3 episodes in payment 1 and then many more (I forget how many) in payment 2, I think "Proteus" is where most people quit the first time through.

--Ulysses Annotated (Gifford and Seidman) is the standard reference book for dealing with allusions. I also recommend getting something that gives a quick overview of the plot--Stuart Gilbert, Harry Blamires.

--A recommendation to betty_p:
You may find that teaching the entirety of Ulysses to talk about censorship might be more than you need to do, as the novel could totally overwhelm the rest of the course. A few other ideas (as I have taught JJ in relation to censorship before):
1. teach a few Dubliners stories along with a chapter from Katherine Mullin's JJ, Sexuality, and Social Purity (I like teaching "Eveline" along with her chapter on the story); the relevant parts of Ellmann's bio, and JJ's letters (esp from 1906) responding to his British printer refusing to publish the collection.
2. teach just "Nausicaa" along with relevant chapters from Paul Vanderham's JJ and Censorship as well as Judge Woolsey's court ruling on the novel.

I have done these separately, and I have done both--both options worked and gave students a good idea of the issues involved in relation to Joyce.

[corny]

Hmm, this is awfully tempting... it's been a few years since I read this, and someday I may have to teach it, and, and...hmm. Consider me "lurking on the edges" for now. ::rummages around to find copy of Ulysses::

[fizmath]

I had a high school English teacher who read us the riot act about Cliff Notes.  He threatened to punish us if he saw us anywhere with them in our possesion.  He then admitted to us that he used them once as a student for Ulysses.

[betty_p]

Well, this is awesome. Thanks, folks!

Dr. Alcott, I don't think the edition matters, but I'll be reading the Vintage Corrected Text edition (ed. Hans Walter Gabler, 1986).

Academic_cog: At a chapter a week we won't get to Molly until I'm done teaching the book! But your (and Dr. Kinbote's) point is well taken that some of the chapters will likely take longer than a day. We can play it by ear, see how it goes. It's not like we have to follow a syllabus.

Dr. Kinbote, thank you for your very helpful suggestions for reading on the fora and for managing the text in my class. This is why I love the fora. I had originally planned to teach just Nausicaa and Penelope, but then when the course turned into an honors seminar I thought I should teach the whole book. I think you're right, though; to keep the focus on censorship I shouldn't overwhelm the students, especially since I'm not a Joyce scholar.

Thanks also for the Mullins reference. I'll look into that.

[nnnwww]

I'm in. Thank you for suggesting this, betty_p.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

You can always do it in a day by Twitter. - DvF

[amewa_silk]

Count me in as well.  I might find a copy in the airport on my trip.

[oak_and_ash]

I might do this!  Last time I read Ulysses, I was in undergrad, doing a year abroad in Dublin.  Which would have been the perfect setting, except that I ended up having to rush through the book, reading an hundred pages a day to get it done before the tutorial.  (I think the prof assumed, reasonably, that everyone had read it before).