Dubliners

Read from Monday, June 13th to Tuesday, June 14th.

Dubliners, by James Joyce.  Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories, each centering on different characters in his Irish city around the turn of the century.  It encompasses many of the themes of Irish life at that time; the burgeoning issue of national identity, politics, Catholicism, alcoholism, as well as themes of life in general, such as poverty, love, upward aspirations, and mortality. 

The stories are arranged chronologically, in that the age of the main character progresses in each one.  A young boy mourns the death of his priest and mentor, while others treat it superficially.  Two boys play hooky from school down by the docks, where they meet a strange man.  Another boy develops a crush on his friend's sister, and he travels to the Arab bazaar in town to buy her a present, but the bazaar is almost closed, and he is frightened.  A young girl plans to sail away with a man to Argentina, but she chickens out at the last minute.

In another story, a mother who manages a boardinghouse learns her daughter is having an affair with one of the boarders, so she tries successfully to get him to marry her, and ensures a prosperous life.  Another mother signs her daughter up to play a series of concerts, but when they are sparsely attended, she demands payment.  She does not get her daughter paid, and the mother makes the daughter storm off, and they are disgraced.  Another elderly woman visits the home of her foster son one Halloween. 

As for men, there is an alcoholic clerk Farrington, who is lazy and gets in an argument with his boss then goes out for a night of debauchery on the town, loses an arm-wrestling contest, and goes home to beat his son.  Another, Little Chandler, has dinner with an old friend who is successful in London as a reporter, and he reflects on his own success in family life.  There is a scene about Irish politicians and their staff as they try to campaign and talk about the politics of the day, in the wake of Parnell.  Another story focuses on a quiet, solitary man, who rebukes a married woman's affections, and years later finds out that her sadness led to an early death.  In another one, an old alcoholic man falls down the stairs and is injured.  His friends try to help him by tricking him to convert to Catholicism

Finally, there is the story "The Dead," which tells of Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta.  They go to a Christmas party at his spinster Aunt's house, and they dance, and feast.  When they return to their hotel, Gabriel wants his wife, but she is distracted.  A song she heard that night reminded her of an old boyfriend, who waited in the cold to see her and caught pneumonia and died.  Gabriel reflects upon life and death, and how everyone he knows will be dead sooner or later.

They are each powerful stories, some more so than others.  There are other stories I did not relate that weren't as moving.  Each story has a small epiphany for the main character, that makes them hopefully change their ways.  Many characters also reappear later in Ulysses, one of my favorites.  Enjoyable, easy read.  Three and a half out of five stars.