Comments
The Joyce Project is a huge undertaking and largely a one-man job, so mistakes, oversights, and glitches are inevitable. I am grateful to the dozens of email correspondents who have found typos, inquired about coding problems, identified factual errors, suggested relevant scholarly works, supplied more complete attributions for images, and so forth. Most images, videos, and audio recordings on the site have been downloaded from the internet, with identification of the source and precise information about the work when available, but without permission or compensation. If you object to my using something to which you hold the rights, I'll remove it without delay. Write to John Hunt.
Positive feedback is also welcome. I enjoy hearing from people
making their way through Ulysses for the first time as
much as from long-time Joyceans. The site was originally
conceived as an aid for my students, so knowing that new readers
find it helpful gives me great pleasure. A sense of
international connection sustains me too, having corresponded
with more than one hundred users in the US, Ireland, Northern
Ireland, England, Australia, Canada, Mexico, France, Spain,
Italy, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Japan, China, Iran,
Iraq, Israel, India, and Bangladesh.
Many people write to me with suggestions for notes, or for changes or additions to existing notes. A much smaller number offer to write notes themselves. These submissions are very welcome, but they typically involve laborious back and forth between writer and editor, given the unfamiliar and demanding form I have devised by long trial and effort for Joyce Project notes. Anyone who wants to submit a note should pay close attention to these ten elements of house style:
- Gloss short passages in the novel (from one word to a few
sentences) that can be spotlighted with hyperlinks. Some notes
may address multiple passages.
- Frame notes that will be accessed from multiple passages in such a way that they make sense when opened from any of these locations.
- Within the note, quote details from the text to help users find what they are looking for and to save them from having to go back and forth between note and text.
- In the first paragraph, summarize what is most essential
for a first-time reader of the novel, trying also to condense
the main points covered in the note.
- Use later paragraphs to go into more detail, explore less obvious implications, draw connections to other parts of the novel, summarize relevant scholarship, and so forth.
- Cite sparely, acknowledging the most relevant scholarship but trying not to clog the note with sources of commonly available information.
- Present more objective information first, more subjective interpretation later.
- Make general critical observations only to shed light on particular passages.
- Move from point to point logically, avoiding merely associative connections.
- Avoid finality, remaining open to contrary viewpoints and interpretations.
Submit notes by email and I will respond as quickly as possible. If I post your work I'll credit you at the bottom of the note and also on the Contributors page.