Nah. You don't need the
Odyssey to muck thing up further. The basic problem with
Ulysses is that there is too much in it. The
Odyssey-mimicking structure, the linking of each of the eighteen episodes with a different academic discipline and a different bodily organ, the symbols and allusions, the puns and parodies, the cast of dozens (all Irish and loquacious), the determination to do it all. both expressionistically and documentarily, and in eighteen hours and forty-five minutes, no less. Then you've got Joyce himself. A master of the English language but not the least bit ashamed at being a show-off about it.
Two tips: Don't be afraid to browse. Find an episode you like. Then graze. Let Joyce's precise, unflagging, comic, and consolational protrayal of life take hold. And don't be proud. A
Cliff Notes booklet or something similar will help steer you over the rough patches.
