The annotations are being compiled with reference to the original edition ( editio princeps) of Ulysses, which was published in Paris on 2 February 1922 by Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare and Company. It is recommended that the first-time reader make a genuine effort to read the work through from cover to cover before seeking assistance from annotations or critical appraisals. It is assumed that the reader has read Ulysses at least once before, though first-time readers should also find the annotations useful but no spoiler alerts will be provided when references are made to other parts of the novel. This wikibook aims to provide the reader of Ulysses with a set of line-by-line annotations and authoritative references which explain Joyce's allusions and allow the reader to enjoy the book without being overwhelmed by a rising tide of incomprehensible minutiae. Bewilderment inevitably gives rise to frustration, and this frustration provides the reader with an excuse to give up. All too often the reader's initial enthusiasm for the book is whittled away at the expense of a growing sense of bewilderment, as a mass of unexplained references and quotations piles up. Ever since its publication in 1922, its encyclopaedic nature and voluminous display of erudition have proved stumbling blocks for many readers. James Joyce's novel Ulysses is one of the most allusive works of literature in the Western canon. Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, Oxford University Press, New York, Revised Edition (1982), p. I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality.

James joyce ulysses