The Guide to James Joyce’s Ulysses

“While reading (and, ultimately, finishing) Joyce’s novel requires some measure of dedication, the rewards are well worth the effort,” writes UlyssesGuide.com founder Hastings in his elegant debut. To help readers better understand Ulysses, Hastings breaks down the book by episode, discussing critical consensus and offering biographical context along the way. In the chapter on “Proteus,” Hastings encourages readers to stick with the notoriously difficult section and goes on to elucidate the elusive tangle of Stephen Dedalus’s stream-of-consciousness by “presenting the episode’s main ideas and highlights.” In “Eumaeus,” Hastings prepares the reader to be underwhelmed by the encounter between Leopold Bloom and Dedalus, while in “Penelope,” he provides a concise and accessible summary of the critical reception of Molly Bloom. Several maps of Dublin add context, as do the four appendices, one a chronology of Dedalus’s day, the second of Bloom’s day, the third a practical look at currency in Dublin and its comparative worth today, and the fourth a compilation of the novel’s schemas. This is an excellent supplement to the classic. (Feb.)