the cambridge centenary ulysess

Physically, this book is obnoxious: huge, wasted margins frame a reproduction of the original text that painstakingly tries to look as shabby as it was, including faded letters and all its typos, and its size and weight border on the unmanageable. Ah, but the contents is really good: on the one hand there's of course Joyce's text itself (after twenty years since the last time, my English, with the help of the annotations, was closer to be up to the task, and enjoy it even when it wasn't), and next to it the essays introducing every chapter, which i found (with an exception or two) very informative and, sometimes, even illuminating. I was also delighted to confirm that the parallels with Homer's work are a strecht to say the least: i quickly read The Odyssey in preparation and found it, again, boring at best and disheartening in its depiction of the society of the time (not that Joyce's Dublin was without its blemishes, but you hopefully get my point).

So, just get an electronic version and enjoy!