Reading Ulysses: A Philosophical Discussion Group
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At this meeting we'll begin the seventh chapter; that is, Aeolus. The art of the chapter is rhetoric, which is generally understood to be opposed to the logical form of philosophy, but the technique of the chapter is enthymemic (google it, or refer to Gifford's headnote to the chapter).
Everyone should read as much of the chapter as possible, and also browse an introduction to Classical rhetoric, prior to the meeting.
This group is reading Joyce's Ulysses from a philosophical perspective; i.e., concentrating on the philosophical themes, whether latent or explicit, identifying the philosophical references and allusions, and discussing the significance and value the philosophy has for the novel. This will be a live reading of the novel, but everyone is encouraged to read the read ahead in preparation for the meetings. It is not necessary to be at all familiar with Joyce's work, but having had some experience of the best known philosophy in the Western tradition would be good, because we won't be reading texts other than Ulysses. In short, having a few philosophically minded Joyceans in the group would be great, but anyone with an interest is welcome. We'll discuss our approach to the novel in detail at the beginning of the meeting.
The edition we'll be using is available free online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4300/4300-h/4300-h.htm
Gifford's Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses is available here: https://annas-archive.org/md5/e3e2c4c6a06e326d464327979bfb02c0