Obscure novel found in various syllabuses -- first half of work's dashed off (7)
I believe the answer is:
ulysses
'obscure novel found in various syllabuses first' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'half of work's dashed off' is the wordplay.
'half of' suggests halving the letters.
'work's' becomes 'Ulysses's' (James Joyce novel).
'dashed off' becomes 'ses' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ulyssess' halved is 'ulys'.
'ulys'+'ses'='ULYSSES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ulysses that I've seen before include "name for Civil War hero" , "-- S. Grant, US President" , "Roman equivalent of Odysseus" , "Old seafarer" , "Wandering Greek hero or novel by James Joyce" .)