Controversial, scandalous, erudite and funny,
Ulysses is undisputedly a landmark of twentiethcentury
Modernism. It charts one day – 16th June
1904 – in the lives of three inhabitants of Dublin:
the advertising salesman Leopold Bloom, the artist
Stephen Dedalus and Bloom’s wife Molly. Their
peregrinations, thoughts and encounters form the
basis of the narrative, which becomes a celebration
of all human experience through the lives of specific
individuals in a specific place at a specific time.
Ulysses is both an experimental novel and a book
intimately concerned with the events of modern life.
A lively repository of literary allusion and colloquial
realism, this dazzlingly innovative, ambitious novel
is here presented in its 1939 version, which contains
notable textual differences from the standard
editions currently in print. This edition also includes
comprehensive and all-new annotations by Joyce
scholar Sam Slote (Trinity College, University of
Dublin).
________
'I love this edition. The explanatory notes don’t get in the way of the text but rather send me seamlessly back with renewed interest. The beautiful paper falls flat to the touch and when I first opened it I came across the note for p125. I never knew that Staggering Bob was veal made from calves so young they were still staggering. I found myself reading the tremendous Lestrygonians Episode again – Joyce’s terrible and wonderful song of how and what we consume. One can never get to the bottom of
Ulysses.'
Martina Evans
'His writing is not
about something; it is that something itself.'
Samuel Beckett
'Anyone looking for an accurate, annotated
Ulysses will find one here and be grateful to Sam Slote for condensing so much information.'
TLS
"Slote’s annotations are by far the most systematic, the most thorough, the most scholarly, of any single-volume
Ulysses. He has a very good feel for the things a reader might like to know… His impressive grasp of the textual history of the book brings many benefits, as he casually explains how misprints arose. The notes on scientific and technical terms are particularly clear."
The Irish Times
" 'Wipe your glosses with what you know,' we are advised by Issy in
Finnegans Wake. Slote has certainly done that, and his nicely polished lens provides perhaps the clearest insight into the finely grained details of
Ulysses of any yet on offer."
The Irish Times
"Slote deserves praise for the major strength of this edition: his annotation is extensive, diligent and unfussy, and offer a serious rival to Jeri Johnson's notes in the Oxford edition."
The Tablet
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Read an excerpt from
Ulysses
