Watty62 reviewed Dubliners by James Joyce
Ian Watt
4 stars
See comments.
English language
Published Feb. 11, 2021 by Independently Published.
4 stars
(34 reviews)
Dubliners is a collection of vignettes of Dublin life at the end of the 19th Century written, by Joyce’s own admission, in a manner that captures some of the unhappiest moments of life. Some of the dominant themes include lost innocence, missed opportunities and an inability to escape one’s circumstances.
Joyce’s intention in writing Dubliners, in his own words, was to write a chapter of the moral history of his country, and he chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to him to be the centre of paralysis. He tried to present the stories under four different aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. ‘The Sisters’, ‘An Encounter’ and ‘Araby’ are stories from childhood. ‘Eveline’, ‘After the Race’, ‘Two Gallants’ and ‘The Boarding House’ are stories from adolescence. ‘A Little Cloud’, ‘Counterparts’, ‘Clay’ and ‘A Painful Case’ are all stories concerned with mature life. Stories from public life …
Dubliners is a collection of vignettes of Dublin life at the end of the 19th Century written, by Joyce’s own admission, in a manner that captures some of the unhappiest moments of life. Some of the dominant themes include lost innocence, missed opportunities and an inability to escape one’s circumstances.
Joyce’s intention in writing Dubliners, in his own words, was to write a chapter of the moral history of his country, and he chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to him to be the centre of paralysis. He tried to present the stories under four different aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. ‘The Sisters’, ‘An Encounter’ and ‘Araby’ are stories from childhood. ‘Eveline’, ‘After the Race’, ‘Two Gallants’ and ‘The Boarding House’ are stories from adolescence. ‘A Little Cloud’, ‘Counterparts’, ‘Clay’ and ‘A Painful Case’ are all stories concerned with mature life. Stories from public life are ‘Ivy Day in the Committee Room’ and ‘A Mother and Grace’. ‘The Dead’ is the last story in the collection and probably Joyce’s greatest. It stands alone and, as the title would indicate, is concerned with death.
Contains
Sisters Encounter Araby Eveline After the Race Two Gallants Boarding House Little Cloud Counterparts Clay A Painful Case Ivy Day In the Committee Room Mother Grace Dead
Also contained in:
Adrián Astur Álvarez reviewed Dubliners by James Joyce
Review of 'Dubliners' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I've read this collection a few times before and something new comes up every time. This time I was struck, not only by the perfection of The Dead, but by Joyce's ability to connect with the reader by revealing a lot of his characters' vulnerabilities early on in each story. It gives him the permission he needs to take his narrative wherever he wants since he is free from the constrictions of plot.
Fionnáin reviewed Dubliners by James Joyce
Review of 'Dubliners' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
Rated at Joyce's standard. "The Dead" alone is a good enough story to pull this book through, but there are so many others. The characters are creepily modern; living in Dublin today the stories could all still take place (with taxis replacing carriages and street-lights replacing lamps). Mystifying.
