Ulysses from Notes and Drafts to Editions and Revisions

James Joyce′s idea was to add a short story to Dubliners, named Ulysses, he never wrote it. But he kept the idea and wrote a novel instead, which took him seven years. In the early stages of planning the work was imagined to extend to 22 episodes, than reduced to 17 episodes, in the end 18 episodes were realised. On 29th October 1921 he declared the text to be finished, but he continued to correct and revise it until the end of January 1922, only short time before publication on 2nd February 1922, James Joyce′s fortieth birthday.

Because it took him such a long time, it is doubtful if the final text is the one Joyce planed to write or had he just been stopped in his process by the deadline of his publisher. Supposing that was the case is there the possibility to find out what he wanted to achieve and how could that be made.

In a first step I want to point out Joyce′s process of writing and proceeding, his habit of taking notes and working with them. This will lead to the different serialisations respectively editions and the project Hans Walter Gabler undertook to edit the "Corrected Ulysses" including the occurring problems and what other Joyceans thought and still think about it.