Is this the edition to read? Also what should I read prior

>Also what should I read prior to it if anything.
The Bible
Hamlet
The Greeks
Dubliners
Portrait of the Artist

1. any edition is fine
2. realistically you don't have to read anything before it

>>7708660
I read somewhere that it's impossible to get all the references anyway, so it isn't imperative to read anything. Is that your reasoning?

>>7708660
>>7708673


no, the only things you need to read are Portrait (this is actually necessary) and hamlet

>>7708653

>Hamlet
>Not The Odyssey

Come the fuck on, cuckold

I attempted to read this without having read the Bible and The Odyssey and I gave up. I'm not going to try again until I've read an Irish history book and maybe some folk tales. That slang was unbearable.

Yes, the Gabler is the most well respected and scholarly edition of Ulysses. I would also recommend you purchase Gifford's "Ulysses Annotated" which explains and expounds upon all the references you would otherwise need years of background reading to understand. The only thing I would insist you read beforehand is the Odyssey or at least be somewhat familiar with the plot of the epic before starting Ulysses.

>>7708638
It's the edition I was assigned when I took a joyce seminar in undergrad

>>7708653
And some books about Irish history and culture, too, senpai.
You can try and get familiar with the early-20th-century Dublin, it would help.

>>7708638

Holly shit, that's an abomination of a cover. Not sure I've ever seen anything as ugly.

>>7708673
Joyce's "Wake" is the text where you can't possibly get all the references.

"Ulysses" makes you feel inadequate and uncultured because the allusions are oblique but can still be grasped if you are clever enough.

>>7710188
He said the Greeks.
And there's a lot of Hamlet in Ulysses.

>>7708638
start with the greeks

then read the entire western canon

>>7711811
>oblique
What the fuck nigger
Is that supposed to be "obscure"?
Is it a meme to replace that word for other words like obtuse or shit liek that
Smh

>>7712006
no....

>>7711976
Oblique:
2
a : not straightforward : indirect; also : obscure

b : devious, underhanded

Also, please watch the language. We're not on /pol/ after all.

>>7710197
I don't know how you can read this with Gifford, which is 600 pages of pure notes. It completely ruins the experience.

>>7712024
Suck my dick niggermongrel

>>7712034
Yes, its 600 pages of notes, but you don't have to read all of it. I used it like an encyclopedia of sorts for the novel, if there was an allusion or historical reference that was confusing to me and was prohibiting my comprehension I would turn to the Gifford and get the required info.

Having Gifford on hand prevents you from unironically needing to "read the entire western canon" while still preventing 95% of the novel from being completely foreign to you. It's a resource.

>>7710188
confirmed for not having gotten past the first chapter of ulysses

>>7712728
this

it's hilariously obvious when someone hasnt read the book but wants to appear smart and regurgitates shit about the odyssey