Paul Dalgarno recounts his triumph over James Joyce's Ulysses

Paul Dalgarno, author and Head of Content at ArtsHub & ScreenHub, finally finished reading James Joyce's Ulysses after four failed attempts over 20 years. He describes the experience as a grueling endurance test, comparing it to climbing Everest or swimming the English Channel. The novel, published in 1922, was banned in the US until 1933, in the UK until 1936, and in Australia until 1937, with restrictions continuing into the 1950s. Dalgarno prepared by reading Dickens, Moby-Dick, and part of Proust. He found some chapters (4, 6, 8) relatively easy, while others (14 and 15) were extremely difficult. He used online resources like Ulysses Guide to understand the dense allusions. The final episode, Penelope, is a 45-page unpunctuated stream-of-consciousness soliloquy by Molly Bloom, which Dalgarno loved. He plans to reread Ulysses but will not attempt Joyce's even more challenging Finnegan's Wake. The piece was published on Bloomsday, 16 June.