James Joyce’s Ulysses is a book that has fascinated, shocked and baffled readers ever since its first publication. Widely considered one of the most difficult books in the English language, it has caused confusion and controversy for many years, not to mention divided opinion between scholars, fans and casual readers. It’s one of those books people mean to get around to reading, or will definitely finish reading one day - or will never pick up again after getting completely frustrated part way along. Why is it so difficult? Can an ordinary curious reader really just pick it up and make their way through it? Of course they can. I’ve done just that.
This is not to say that I have unravelled any great mysteries of Ulysses, nor uncovered all of its secrets. Not even close. But as an average person of underwhelming education and unremarkable reading, I have trundled through this notorious tome and here I give my best guess at what is going on, who is doing what and, ultimately what it’s all about.
There are endless online resources to help you through this and any other great novel you care to mention. However, I have shunned anything like that in order to give you my own personal interpretation, (un)hindered by only my own wits, general knowledge and (mis)understanding. It is a guide of sorts, albeit from a slightly quirky perspective. My hope is that it will inspire other people to give it a go, where otherwise they might have imagined it as out of reach. It isn’t - you just have to stretch a bit to get there.