Hi mom!

Today was my first official Reading Ulysses with my Mom sesh. I sat down with about 7 pounds of book: my copy of the hideous Gabler edition, and the reason that I wanted the Gabler. Behold:

When I was looking into which edition of Ulу to read for our inter-generational epistolary project, I learned of the 2022 Oxford University Press Annotations to James Joyce’s Ulysses by Sam Slote, Marc A. Manigonian, and John Turner. Over 12,000 annotations. More than double the length of the novel itself. The latest scholarship. Instantly I was seized around the neck by the covetous book goblin that lives inside me. I had to have it, price tag be damned. (I’m not allowed to write in it so as to keep it in excellent condition for selling at a charitable price to some underpaid grad student over in Berkeley.) It is massive—so heavy it just puts the kitchen scale into error mode.

Because, the thing is… I have actually tried reading Ulysses before. The summer between 3rd and 4th years of my BA, I was reading ridiculous amounts. Roughly a novel a day. And as there were more than a few Joyce fanboys in my cohort, I took a stab at the thing. I ended up tapping out around 100 pages in. I figured—I was more than 10% of the way through the book, and I did not care at all about anything or anyone in it. I was bored out of my mind and had zero interest in forcing myself to finish it. So I didn’t.

Now, almost 20 years later, I'm happy to be giving Ulysses another shot. Mostly because of this co-reading project I’ve cooked up for us. I want you, Mom, to read Ulysses—to achieve this thing that you have said you want. In order to do that, I need to keep it interesting for me: I may not be a Ulysses fangirl, but I like the sorts of people who like Ulysses, and I like the writing they produce. Such as the very clear and concise and actually outright entertaining annotations by Slote et al. As well as the speculations of syphilis, the design stories, and a whole slew of other articles I’m keen to read alongside the novel.

Don’t let my failure colour your reading experience, though. Dive into it and see how you go! I have learned since my aborted first go ‘round with Uly that people often give up around the same spot in the book as I did. (Some folks even suggest skipping these early parts.) It really does sound like pushing through the first few episodes is worth it.

But if it is a slog—I’m here with all the annotations for every last bit of slang, every allusion, every biographical link, if there’s something you need explained. I think you’ll find that the references to Catholicism gleam on the page like a chalice held aloft at communion—it’s obvious even to a damnable heathen like me.

Your copy of the Gabler edition of Ulysses is now waiting for you in downtown [city] at [independent bookstore]. (Already paid for, so they should just hand it over.)

HAPPY READING!

Cheers,

K.