Dubliners - BookWyrm

223 pages

English language

Published April 12, 1976

ISBN:: 978-0-14-004222-1

(1 review)

The remarkable collection of stories that make up Dubliners was described by Joyce himself as a series of chapters in the moral history of his community and the arrangement of the tales reveals "a progression from childhood to maturity, broadening from private to public scope," as Harry Levin noted in his introduction to The Portable James Joyce.

In fact, it is the scope of life that Joyce has limned in these stories - ranging from the opening tale, "The Sisters," in which the boy is confronted with death as he overhears the conversation of his elders, through the memorable "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" with its depiction of small-time politicians recalling their great lost leader, Parnell, to the exquisitely poignant "The Dead," wherein through the chance singing of a song a husband learns of a long-ago romance in his wife's life. While the geographic boundary of these fifteen stories …

The remarkable collection of stories that make up Dubliners was described by Joyce himself as a series of chapters in the moral history of his community and the arrangement of the tales reveals "a progression from childhood to maturity, broadening from private to public scope," as Harry Levin noted in his introduction to The Portable James Joyce.

In fact, it is the scope of life that Joyce has limned in these stories - ranging from the opening tale, "The Sisters," in which the boy is confronted with death as he overhears the conversation of his elders, through the memorable "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" with its depiction of small-time politicians recalling their great lost leader, Parnell, to the exquisitely poignant "The Dead," wherein through the chance singing of a song a husband learns of a long-ago romance in his wife's life. While the geographic boundary of these fifteen stories may be middle-class, Catholic Dublin, the artistic boundary is set only by Joyce's far-reaching genius.

This definitive text restoring Joyce's manuscript style and his later corrections has been prepared by Robert Scholes in consultation with Richard Ellmann, Joyce's biographer.

(back cover)

182 editions

Julie R reviewed Dubliners James Joyce 1914 by James Joyce

Much more interesting than I expected

4 stars

If you've been avoiding Joyce because of Ulysses, this book feels like a warm-up both for the reader and the author. There are beautiful phrases buried inside intriguing vignettes. Yes, the political and social commentary is there (and opaque for those of us without knowledge of the time period and history), but the stories are enjoyable independent of those allusions. (Except for Two Gallants. I felt like that one went right over my head, but I also noted the excessive walking similar to Ulysses.) I found a lot of pain in these stories, but I was also struck by the deep sense of community and family. Most of these "stories" don't have an ending as we think of story structure, but are open to interpretation and thought. Reminded me a bit of all those lessons in high school about the Lady and the Tiger by Stockton.