Product Description

This book contains introduction and notes by Laurence Davies, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Living overseas but writing, always, about his native city, Joyce made Dublin unforgettable. The stories in "Dubliners" show us truants, seducers, gossips, rally-drivers, generous hostesses, corrupt politicians, failing priests, amateur theologians, struggling musicians, moony adolescents, victims of domestic brutishness, sentimental aunts and poets, patriots earnest or cynical, and people striving to get by. In every sense an international figure, Joyce was faithful to his own country by seeing it unflinchingly and challenging every precedent and piety in Irish literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39331 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent Collection of Joyce's Short Stories
This book has 15 short stories from James Joyce. My only problem is that I don't think this particular edition has been kept in Joyce's original form and format of writing. However, this collection is a good place to start before going on to his other works and perhaps tackling his masterpiece and what is often regarded as the greatest novel ever written - `Ulysses'.

"Dubliners," Penguin Classics, Intro & Notes by Terence Brown (318 pages)
Since the Gremlins at Amazon.co.uk seem to have substituted another edition if one "looks inside" the above icon, I am specifying the edition in place of a title for my review.

It would be presumptuous of me to comment upon Joyce's prose, which in "Dubliners"--in my reader's opinion--seems flawless. I can only tell you the reasons why I adore this book. Joyce views his residents of Dublin--of various ages and social classes--through a melancholy lens, albeit tinged with grace and humor. Of all the stories, my favorite is "Araby," which recaptures the expectations, frustrations, and delusions of adolescence. The stories seem intended to be read in order from beginning to end. Indeed, each story is linked to the next by recurrent vocabulary and imagery--for instance, conceptual images of light and dark, vision & blindness, paralysis, and death--among others--to be understood both literally and figuratively. All these images have been interwoven so carefully that unless one is looking for them, they will be noticed only subliminally; they nevertheless contribute to the feeling of satisfaction after Joyce brings them together in his final heartbreaking paragraph, which will linger in one's thoughts long after one has closed the book.

I especially appreciate the editor's notes in this edition, which clarify a range of topics, including Dublin topography, vocabulary and slang that has gone out of usage, obsolete social and political matters. This Penguin Edition is therefore excellent for students as well as for the serious reader.

Ceann de na leabhair is tabhachtai i litriocht na hEireann
Ta an leabhar seo ar cheann de na leabhair is tabhachtai i stair litriochta na h-Eireann. Bhi agus ta an-thionchar ag Joyce ar an-chuid udar eile agus ta clu agus cail air ar fud an domhain mar gheal ar a chuid litriochta. Ba as Baile Atha Cliath o dhuchas an udar , agus ta leirgas fior-mhaith ar an gcathair i re an udair le fail as leabhar seo. Mholfainn do gach duine an leabhar seo a leamh.