Ulysses (Cliffs Notes) [Paperback]

Edward A. Kopper Jr. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822013150 | ISBN-13: 978-0822013150 | Publication Date: December 1, 1981

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on Ulysses, you explore James Joyce's fascinating literary masterpiece. This novel, written in stream of consciousness and unfolding over a 24-hour period, follows "everyman" Leopold Bloom as the 20th-century version of Homer's Odysseus, as he goes through the most normal of days.

Chapter summaries and commentaries take you through Joyce's novel, and character analyses help you understand the main characters of the novel. Other features that help you study include

• A section on the life and background of James Joyce
• A review section that tests your knowledge
• A selected bibliography

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

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Review

"With their familiar yellow and black striped covers, the guides have helped millions of students through the darkest hours...They have became an American icon." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Cliffs Complete^TM –Combines the original text of a work with quality commentary and a helpful glossary.
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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Cliffs Notes (December 1, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822013150
• ISBN-13: 978-0822013150
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,112,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, May 20, 2000

By 

Joseph Dewey (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ulysses (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

This guide was invaluable in helping me to understand Ulysses. I could not have made it through Ulysses without it. Kopper is definitely an intense Joyce fan, who has spent many years studying Joyce and Ulysses.

The most valuable part is his detailed summary of the action in the book (which is the smallest part of Ulysses) in every chapter. The book gives a very in-depth analysis of the style, background, and subtleties of Joyce's manipulation of English.

My only criticism is that Kopper never warns the reader-"This part is a hard part to understand." But, most people will get that by page two of Ulysses anyway.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful for a tricky work., June 24, 2001

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ulysses (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

For those voyaging through the original, but murky, literary waters of James Joyce's novel ULYSSES, the CLIFFS NOTES ON JOYCE's ULYSSES is a superbly helpful guide.

This book contains contains explication on all eighteen sections of ULYSSES, character analyses, and a list of the novel's myriad characters.

If you're going to tackle ULYSSES, take this CLIFFS NOTES guide along.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good first guide, July 12, 2010

By 

James S. Brown (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ulysses (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

You can read Ulysses without guidance. You can. Certainly it's likely that if you do, you'll miss out on a fair amount of what's going on in the novel. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, as if you're anything like me, Ulysses is a book you'll come back to again and again, and there will be something new, some whole new thread of theme or motif, some new chain of allusion, to grab you anew. It's a novel, and it's a way of reading.

I've read a few Cliffs Notes, and I've written a fair number of Masterplots entries (and other guides and reference works of that ilk), and in my opinion, if used in conjunction with a careful reading of Joyce's novel, Kopper's little book is a nice first guide. It sketches you a map that will carry you through on your first trip. Maybe, if you have the time and interest, you'll reread the novel with Harry Blamires's Bloomsday Book as a companion, or even Gifford's Ulysses Annotated. And Thornton's Allusions in Ulysses. And-- ...

But the Cliffs Notes are quite good for what they are.

When I first read Ulysses 25 years ago, I did it like this: I read an episode, then I read the Cliffs Notes, then I reread the episode, and then I moved on. That's how you'll get the most out of this tool. If you use it for what it's supposed to be and don't let it read the book for you, you could do a lot worse. When I taught the novel, I was pleased to recommend this guide to my students.

In the interest of full disclosure: I first studied Joyce as an undergraduate with Ed Kopper, but as I haven't spoken with him in at least 20 years, I think you can consider this review minimally biased at worst. Enjoy!