James Joyce's Dubliners discussion

As a lover of Irish literature - especially Joyce, Yeats and Swift, I've wanted to visit Ireland and see the cities, rivers, mountains and countryside where these great works are set. Wandering through Dublin while reading Dubliners adds a whole new dimension to the stories. Finally this summer, I did. Walking along the River Liffey, crossing the many bridges, wandering through Trinity College, Davy Byrnes Pub, Grafton Street, the Temple Bar, and other neighborhoods referenced in the stories certainly adds another meaning to the setting of these works. Regardless, everyone should read Dubliners. If James Joyce is a gap in your reading history, this is an excellent place to start. (I have gaps too, Dickens, is the one I feel the most. While I loved Great Expectations, my attempts to read others has resulted in failure. I college a professor assigned Little Dorritt - about 800 pages of meandering sub plots and satire that I didn't get. Let me characterize the novel this way - the Cliff's Notes are overly long and boring. I keep imagining a time in life when I will go back to Dickens, but now I can only envisage making the effort in the afterlife, when I would have all eternity to drag myself through his novels; but even that thought is frightening to me.)
Anyway, readers are often scared off by Joyce because of the inaccessibility of two of his most widely known works, Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. However, this collection of short stories is Joyce's most accessible work. There are 15 stories. Of these, 14 are very brief - some no more than 4 or 5 pages; yet they contain all of life within their pages. Not a word is wasted. Each is beautifully constructed and written. Not much seems to happen in these stories; they build to "epiphanies," sudden revelations or insights into character or the truth of life. We've all experienced these insights into ourselves and others - for better or for worse. The longest story - The Dead - brings together many of the themes and characters introduced in the others, and keeps you wondering until the final pages why the story is titled The Dead.
The Dublin of Dubliners is not a scenic travel destination. While there are constant reminders that it is an ancient city (It was a Viking settlement), a center of commerce and politics, the city in Dubliners is a backdrop for small minded politicians - one of whom is named "Tricky Dicky" (Ivy Day in the Committee Room); boiling over frustrations with dull lives (Counterparts); frustrations when friends' accomplishments exceed ours (A Little Cloud); unrequited love (A Painful Case) - where the main character feels he is an "outcast from life's feast;" truant boys who get a whole new kind of education (An Encounter).
A recurring theme in Joyce's works is paralysis - characters trapped in their lives and unable to break free. In the excellent story Eveline, a young woman who lives with and supports an abusive father by working two jobs has an opportunity to leave with her lover - a sailor - and escape to Buenos Aires. She writes letters for her brother and father explaining her departure. She gets to the docks for her meeting with her lover and ... Please read the story - it's only four pages!
My favorite of the collection is Araby. This brief story (5 pages) recounts a young boy's first attraction to the elder sister of a friend - Mangan. Through the young boy's eyes the story reveals his longing for her - too young and innocent to be called a "crush" - the emotions are powerful and ineffable - and his ultimate disillusionment. I recall a similar experience - you must too. I believe I was 7. Her name was Marguerite. Like Mangan's sister, she was a couple of years older than I. After what seemed at the time years of staring at her as she came and went to school and out with her friends, I worked up the courage to invite her to my birthday party. Though older, I believed she would be delighted with the games that were planned. As the date of the party approached, my anxiety grew - What would I say to her? Would my friends act immature and embarrass me in front of her? Well, Marguerite never came to the party. During the seemingly endless hours, my friends kept asking when she was coming. I never learned why she didn't. Like the unnamed narrator of Araby - "I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
You'll find yourself, your family and friends, and your hometown in these stories too. They are timeless.

Agreed. Was afraid of 'Dubliners' before started to read. Fall in love from first page. Great book, one of the best in English literature.

Thanks!

It is a great book, nothing like the Forbidding Modernist Tome people think of books by Joyce as being. I get the impression that the way to approach Joyce is to read the books in publication order (possibly not bothering with Finnegan's Wake), though I myself have only ever read Dubliners, and that I have only read recently.

It is a sad and melancholic book though. As Nick says, so many of the characters seem trapped. There are a lot of wasted lives in the book. I was struck also by how many people in it have deeply problematic relationships with alcohol.

Thanks, Ian. Portrait of the artist will remind you a lot of Dubliners - similar characters and settings. Beautiful prose. The dreariness of Dublin would have been Stephen Dedalus life had he not escaped.

Yes, we did!

That's one we missed. We will be back!