RTE produced a dramatised reading of Ulysses by actors. Still available for download. I found this helped me access the written text.

https://www.rte.ie/culture/2025/0527/1146705-listen-ulysses-...

It's definitely not the hardest "arthouse" novel (or whatever you call it), I found Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon so much more harder, and Beckett's Three Novels (i.e. Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable) was likely the most difficult text I attempted to read in my life. Even then, I think it's still pretty difficult for an average Western reader in 2020s, our literacy attention span and interest is very low. People should definitely attempt it though!

Pynchon's "California" novels (crying of lot 49, vineland, inherent vice) are much more readable, and arguably enjoyable. I found Gravity's Rainbow pretty inscrutable.

Crying of Lot 49 is wonderful and I am not really a big fiction fan.

I will have to give Vineland and Inherent Vice a shot. Gravity's Rainbow is just a lost cause for me with the size let alone the content.

I've never read Finnegans Wake, but it made a lot more sense when I heard it spoken out loud, which I think was the intent. Here's Joyce reading it: https://youtu.be/M8kFqiv8Vww?si=YO69BX_KVEINr5mo.

I had the same sensation when I listened to Fiona Shaw performing The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who breathes completely new life into it: https://youtu.be/lPB_17rbNXk?si=IBKeyTnu0KCZ2r_U. (She's an amazing actress, truly one of the greats.) The poem is supposed to many types of voices talking, so you lose a lot of meaning if you just read it like a poem (even T. S. Eliot himself reads it quite poorly!).

Fiona Shaw is one of the greats. I've been lucky enough to see her on stage a couple of times.

For those of you who don't recognize her name, she's Maarva in Andor, and some minor character (I don't remember) in the Harry Potter films - neither of which roles get even close to challenging her range and power.

I would love to see her on stage. She did wonders with the Maarva character even though it was a very small role.

Anyone seen Jorn Barger lately?

I had a similar experience. I finally got around to reading Ulysses when I had some downtime between jobs and pushed my way through it. I ended up referring to https://www.ulyssesguide.com/ as I went along which helped substantially: the extra context and discussion made me appreciate the novel more.

I came to the conclusion that while I didn't necessarily _like it_ per se, I had to acknowledge how absurdly talented Joyce was, and that there was some justification for being in the top books list. My feeling was that the lack of enjoyment was a fault of the book but more that I didn't have the background to appreciate it. Though there were also some chapters where most people agree Joyce was just trying too hard and it shows.

I (too) had a similar experience! On the first read I felt like I was barely scratching the surface but could enjoy just enough of the lyricism and imagery to slog through, but definitely didn't "get it". Then I read it with a bunch of fellow book nerds and put some effort into unpacking it and had a blast.

It definitely repays sustained attention, if literary fiction is your jam.

You made it three pages? I doubt I made it two.