Lucy Caldwell on Ulysses: Why Reading Joyce Without Footnotes Changed Everything

What did Lucy Caldwell say about James Joyce? In a July 24, 2026 feature for the Guardian's "The books of my life" series, Belfast-born author Lucy Caldwell described her relationship with Ulysses. She first approached the novel with anxiety as an undergraduate. Years later, she read a copy without footnotes or endnotes, straight through, an experience she called one of the most glorious of her reading life. Her headline line was that after reading Joyce, even your text messages fizz with the energy of the language.

Who Lucy Caldwell is

Lucy Caldwell is a novelist, short story writer, and playwright from Belfast. Her novels include Where They Were Missed, The Meeting Point, All the Beggars Riding, and These Days, set during the Belfast Blitz of 1941. She has published the short story collections Multitudes and Intimacies, and won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2021. Caldwell also edited the anthology Being Various: New Irish Short Stories. The books of my life is a Guardian series in which writers name the books that shaped them.

Why reading without notes can work

Ulysses is often considered one of the most challenging novels in English, with many editions packed with annotations to explain Dublin references, allusions, and wordplay. Caldwell's experience points to something many readers report: stopping every few lines to check a note can turn the book into homework, while reading for rhythm and character lets its comedy and feeling come through. Reading for rhythm and character lets its comedy and feeling come through. The notes are still there for a second pass.

A practical approach to Ulysses

1. Read for the day, not the references. The novel follows Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom through June 16, 1904. Keep track of where they are and the rest can wait.
2. Skip ahead when stuck. Each chapter uses a different style. If one stalls, the next may click.
3. Try listening. Audiobook and dramatized versions bring out the music of the prose.
4. Save the guides for rereading. Annotations reward a second visit far more than a first.
5. Join a Bloomsday event. Readings on June 16 around the world make the book social.

For writers

Caldwell's point about text messages is a writer's point. Immersion in a great stylist's work sharpens attention to words everywhere, including in one's own drafts. Writers who read Joyce, or any writer with a distinctive voice, often find their own sentences loosening and gaining energy for a while afterward.