Product Description

The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus's Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce and a universal testament to the artist's 'eternal imagination'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24124 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882, but exiled himself to Paris at twenty as a rebellion against his upbringing. He only returned to Ireland briefly from the Continent but Dublin was at heart of his greatest works, Ulysees and Finnegans Wake. He lived in poverty until the last ten years of his life and was plagued by near blindness and the grief of his daughter's insanity. He died in 1941.

Customer Reviews

Not a page turner
Anyone thinking of buying this on the strength of "Dubliners" should be prepared to be disappointed. The book does display some of the author's undeniable talents: originality of thought, punchy writing style (especially in dialogue) and some elements of fabulous characterisation. The problem with is the book is that it has flashes of brilliance, and it sometimes takes along time to get to the great paragraphs, and it just doesn't "hang together" as a whole.

This book, for me, is outdated and not the best Joyce book available, and I'm sure I will incur the wrath of the purists for that statement. But, dear reader, consider this. You are considering buying this Joyce book, right? Hence you're reading a review on it. If it is part of a course for you, or you have an inflated opinion of your own intellectual faculties, buy it with my blessing and gibber on to your friends about how sophisticated you are to have read this (and then you can move onto Finnegan's Wake -- an easy read). But, if, like me, you are looking for a good novel with some value for a more casual reader, steer well clear, and by doing so distance yourself from the pretentious crowd.

P.S. Selah....the revolution against over generous reviewers gathers pace .. Dr. Bee Clarke.

portrait of an artist as a young man
I was forced to read this book, as part of a GCSE "A" level course, and 40 years later, I would still like to give it a totally minus review!All I can remember of this tome is that it was totally boring and I failed to see any point in reading it at all! This NOT my type of book, at all, in any way!!! To me, it seems totally pointless and I still cannot remember a single word of it, only the fact that I found it totally boring and unintelligible. I have been told to read "classics" and can, and have enjoyed may of them. I refute the claim of anybody that this book is a necessary part of english literature, which MUST be consumed. Well, sorry, this is NOT for me!!

Out of 'darkness' comes illumination
I also really struggled with this book. It's very static. The subject and content overall is very limited and thus the reader's imagination is not stretched.

Certainly no page-turner, this book took me weeks on end of bite-sized sittings. Strangely, nothing enthused me about the book - however, like other reviewers, I was attracted to the emotional grasp and wonderful choice/usage of language/words in this challenging piece of work. Very much a work of art, full of bland narrative hiding behind some beautiful strokes of genius.

The autobiographical work draws attention to a young man growing up in Ireland - highlighting his struggles with his peers, Catholicism and worldly desires that lie within. This is a truly reflective book of a great artist as a boy, adolescent and man. It is very personal and expressive. A clear metamorphosis can be seen from childhood through to adulthood - almost from a caterpillar developing into a butterfly with the freedom of flight.

The last pages of this book spoke to me in a very personal and upfront way - that within the 'darkness' of everday life, an individual should have a free, clear and expressive mind to make his or her ambitions in life and not be governed by others.

Hit-and-miss, not everyone's cup of camomile.