Product Description

Joyce’s first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world for the first time. His stories are rooted in the rich detail of Dublin life, portraying ordinary, often defeated lives with unflinching realism. He writes of social decline, sexual desire and exploitation, corruption and personal failure, yet creates a brilliantly compelling, unique vision of the world and of human experience.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7226 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
James Joyce (1882-1941) was born and educated in Dublin. Although he spent most of his adult life outside Ireland, Joyce's psychological and fictional universe is firmly rooted in his native Dublin, the city which provides the settings and much of the subject matter for all his fiction. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939), as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).

Customer Reviews

The book I wish I'd written
It may be a staple of school English literature classes but in the case of 'The Dubliners' classic status is well deserved. I find it incredible that such a collection took Joyce so many years to get published, although upon further consideration the implied sexual perversion of 'An Encounter' and the criticisms of Irish culture, materialism and the Church may not have placed it high on an Edwardian publisher's 'to do' list.

Joyce's penetrating and unsentimental portrayal of Dublin, as told through the experiences of a wide cross-section of its inhabitants, is what makes this book great. It is an example of realism at it's most breathtakingly evocative. Eveline and Little Chandler perfectly sum up the complaceny of a city that has the vague desire but not the motivation or guts to change. Mrs Mooney, Corley and Lenehan embody the ruthless selfishness that facilitated the city's descent into immorality and 'Ivy Day in the Committee Room' and 'A Mother' portray perfectly the political stagnancy and shallowness of the cultural revival that characterised the political situation of the time.

I could go on and on but the point is clear. 'The Dubliners' is as perfect an example of gripping literary portraiture as ever there was, surely one of the greatest books ever written. The harsh realism in every story will leave a potent aftertaste in your mouth and a vivid sense of character and location. My personal favourites are the cold self-isolation of 'A Painful Case' and the truly epic 'The Dead.' The lyrical closing section of the book alone more than justifies the cover price. If you read this book in school or university, dig it up and read it again now. If you haven't yet had the pleasure, buy it!

The most accessible of Joyce's works
This is the first of Joyce's works, and the most accessible. A series of short stories written about the citizens of Dublin going about their daily business, from a woman working in a laundry house to the experiences of a man going to his aunt's Christmas party, he takes the ordinary and somehow infuses it with a sense of sacredness and spirituality that are uniquely Joycean.

These stories are like snapshots in time. We drop in to the person's world and get access to their thoughts and experiences, but there is no omniscient narrator to explain things or underline stuff. We are there, and then we aren't. We make of his pictures what we will. The writing is highly evocative and full of the sights and smells of the time. Joyce never shies away from the repellent aspects of human nature, the dirt, the grime, the questionable sexuality, the hypocrisy of religion, and yet he butts it up against decency, sacrifice, honour and love.

It is raw, visceral writing and an excellent way to introduce yourself to what is to come, a reader for the monstrous Ulysses and a forerunner to The Portrait of the Artist. Necessary for anyone interested in understanding Joyce and getting a handle on his work.

Still a Great Collection of Stories
I finally read Dubliners and saw that very appealing side to Joyce that won him so much admiration among his readers. Also, having read the book it is quite baffling to think that the book was considered risky by the censors/publisher - and the publication was delayed one full decade in its time.

This was written during the time before radio (and TV of course) in which the short story was king, and characters such as Sherlock Holmes were famous in short and entertaining stories, each of which were eagerly anticipated by the public.

In Dubliners we read a series of excellent short stories that cover a cross section of Irish society in Dublin at the end of the 19th century, including stories of young school lads, dead priests, families having dinner, and all night gamblers but to name a few.

Still after 100 years this is an easy and entertaining read that takes only a few hours to breeze through. For myself this is just great subway or airline reading - to be enjoyed in its simple reading without too much analysis - and it is still a classic that does not disappoint.