Don Gifford (1919–2000)

In James Joyce's early work, as in Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, meanings are often concealed in obscure allusions and details of veiled suggestive power. Consistent recognition of these hidden signififances in Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man would require an encyclopedic knowledge of life in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Dublin such as few readers possess. Now this substantially revised and expanded edition of Don Gifford's Notes to Joyce: "Dubliners" and "A Portrait show more of the Artist as a Young Man" puts the requisite knowledge at the disposal of scholars, students, and general readers.

An ample introductory essay supplies the historical, biographical, and geographical background for Dubliners and Portrait. The annotations that follow gloss place names, define slang terms, recount relevant gossip, give capsule histories of institutions and political and cultural movements and figures, supply bits of local and Irish legend and lore, explain religious nomenclature and practices, and illuminate cryptic allusions to literature, theology, philosophy, science and the arts.

Professor Gifford's labors in gathering these data into a single volume have resulted in an invaluable source-book for all students of Joyce's art. show less

I've just finished my first read of Ulysses, and it was a transcendent experience. I took two months, took my time, looked forward to my weekly (sometimes biweekly) visits in Joyce's Dublin.

I am not yet ready to write a review of Ulysses - I want to let the experience wash over me a bit longer before I try to capture it in words. But I do want to say a few words about the reference texts I used: [b:Ulysses Annotated|10543|Ulysses Annotated|Don show more Gifford|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166254003s/10543.jpg|13227] and [b:The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses|595038|The New Bloomsday Book A Guide Through Ulysses|Harry Blamires|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345208104s/595038.jpg|1929805] (which I will discuss in a separate review).

Gifford's [b:Ulysses Annotated|10543|Ulysses Annotated|Don Gifford|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166254003s/10543.jpg|13227] is a breathtakingly comprehensive, encyclopedic approach to referencing Ulysses, often word by word and line by line. Gifford covers historical, mythological, and religious references and context; discusses cultural movements in Ireland; provides definitions for slang and lyrics from popular songs; and even combs through directories, maps, and other archival records to explain when Joyce was drawing directly from actual people, places, and events in Dublin.

As a historian, I loved having access to this volume as I was reading Ulysses. It helped me to resurrect my knowledge of Irish history. I had fun brushing up on early-20th-century Irish slang (you never know when it could come in handy). And I even had an (unanticipated) opportunity to learn more about Theosophism.

That being said, I was wary of having Gifford's exhaustive research displace my attention from Joyce's incandescent, humorous, exuberant use of language. To avoid this, I did not read the annotations side by side Ulysses's text. Instead, I would read an episode of Ulysses, sometimes re-read it, and then page through the relevant annotations for that episode. The process was reminiscent of reading encyclopedias, or paging happily through the OED. (I know, very geeky....)

So, if you are a first-time reader, I don't think you should feel it necessary to read Gifford too. You will understand and appreciate Ulysses more on your own terms, with some guidance from [b:The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses|595038|The New Bloomsday Book A Guide Through Ulysses|Harry Blamires|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345208104s/595038.jpg|1929805]. If you need to understand the significance of every word you read, try to let go of that when you read Ulysses, and let the language wash over you.

If you are about to re-read Ulysses, or if you share my love of historical references and context, then I recommend Gifford very highly - just don't let your perusal of it direct your attention away from what is really important - Joyce's writing itself. show less

Indispensable as a reference guide for a first or subsequent reading of Joyce's epic. Extremely helpful for understanding how each chapter refers to Homer's equivalent stage in his journey, and how Joyce crafts each chapter to correspond to different styles of writing. For those of us with gaps in our knowledge of classical literature, the frequent references become comprehensible. I guarantee that most readers do not have a thorough enough knowledge of Irish history to read the book without show more help in this area. My own reading of Ulysses took quite some time, because I used this book extensively so I could really grasp what Joyce was saying. show less

Definitely well worth the money for any Ulysses fans. It straightens out all the Dublinisms that appear in the book and really shows just how much of an index the book is. If you go into this book not knowing what you're going to get after having read the title, I don't know what to say for you. The notes are by no means comprehensive, but it feels like it's going to be a while for that sort of thing to happen. Ulysses is almost a book that was made for the internet. People have made claims show more for second most important Joyce book next to Richard Ellmann's pre-eminent biography. I'd argue that that book is this. show less