Dubliners
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4.4 • 76 Ratings
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Publisher Description
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment where a character experiences self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The initial stories in the collection are narrated by child protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence and maturity.
Customer Reviews
First Joyce, will not be my last.
I greatly enjoyed all of these stories. Turn of the 20th century Dublin sounds a lot like turn of the 21st century America with its love of beating children. Several characters in several stories wax poetic about whipping boys, almost as if they get some kind of perverse pleasure out of it.
I enjoyed the progression of the main character of each story, starting with juvenile main characters and moving to old age. I was really expecting someone to die in the last short Story.
An Encounter (2nd short Story) and Eveline (4th short Story) stood out to me the most. I liked that Two Gallants (6th short story) and A Little Cloud (8th short story) reflected where I am in life now perfectly.
This was my first encounter with James Joyce, but it will not be my last.
No
This is the stuff of demons. I've had to read this for my AP English class and while I can understand the literary significance, it is horribly dry and boring. Also very long. This isn't something to read for pleasure, it's to analyze.