I'm sure Joyce was sniggering aplenty, but trying to understand what one man's practical joke is set out to be, however intellectual, is no more fun or edifying than trying third party oneiromancy. I have no problem at all doing my best at tackling the beast if the beast is going to be worth subduing in the end, not if it's just a "oh I get the cod now, Jim - good joke on all the English pseudo-intellectuals there, me old mate."
To take a frequent parallel, I find Flann O'Brien's stuff worth the effort. There's genuinely biting humor and genuinely original intelligence in there, along with a narrative that's worth the deconstruction. I either missed that in Ulysses or the necessary deconstruction is the whole intent. Is the whole of the parts greater than the sum with Joyce, or is "doing" the sum the be all and end all?
EDIT. I'm not sure confusing is the term I'd use for Moby Dick. Insufferably tedious and in need of a savage editor is more like it. Yep yep symbolism blah blah but why dress it up with enough extraneous and technically didactic crap to enable the reader to become at the least second mate on the 19th Century whaling vessel of their choice?
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