# of Words: 577

For the majority of the last hundred decades, in case you wanted an interactive geographical adventure of Dublin--the sights, the sounds, and particularly the folks--you could not do much better than read the fifteen connected short stories of James Joyce collection. Most editions of the collection contain two or three city maps from the landing pages, but it becomes fairly clear early on that the stories themselves produce a much better map of the Irish capital because they dig deep into the heads of its citizens to be able to draw a mental map of a location and a time.

Not even Google Maps can do this, though we are pretty sure they're working on it as we talk.

Odds are good that one of the reasons you're reading Dubliners is because the most well-known Irish author of the 20th-century, '' one of the most significant authors associated with the motion of Modernism, James Aloysius Joyce, composed it. Odds are also good that you're reading Dubliners because everything else which Joyce composed after these stories tops out at over 800 pages of absolute brilliance. You're going to need to read his two significant novels, Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake, however you'd be in college through July if you read them in class.

So you've chosen for Dubliners instead, as an easily digestible option. When Joyce composed it, publishers almost fled his existence, they were so fearful. They believed the book was a little too edgy and that the rigorous British authorities would sue them for printing disgusting material.

Then, once Dubliners eventually did appear in stores, it was not any Twilight. No long lines of yelling children in outfits waiting to read the movie or see the film. No major cash payouts to its recently famous writer. Joyce did not make a good deal of money from the ten-year saga, and higher school students certainly were not reading the material for at least another sixty decades. Bottom line? This was way ahead of its time, far too realistic, and method to problematic for readers that desired a really clear plot with a twist ending.

Joyce had something different in your mind. Dubliners' portrait of the city as an ancient 20th-century metropolis is not rather the advertisement you'll discover in these horrible travel publications which consistently seem to be in doctor's offices. The personalities of these stories are not the grinning redheads with adorable squares you may expect when you think about the fortune of the Irish.

In this Dublin, nearly everyone's unfortunate: they are beaten, berated, betrayed, and abandoned with their loved ones; they wash away their wages and their great sense; in some cases, they just die; and as if this were not enough, they even lose vast sums in poker.

If this is starting to sound bleak, we are not going to lie: there's not just one happy end to be discovered among the fifteen stories. But that is exactly why these stories are really excellent. They depict moments of intense personal crisis and extreme personal reflection with this kind of realistic power that we can not help but see ourselves at these Dubliners, as frightening as that sounds. We have all been frustrated, hurt, cheated, startled, rejected, and scorned, meaning that it is difficult not to think Joyce's writing is timeless, that it says something to us about the areas of our thoughts and hearts which are as moist and cold and uninviting as his Dublin.

Related Papers

The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan

In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, a freelance author and 1942 Smith graduate, intertwines anecdotes and observations from her own life with facts and evaluation from her research, creating a work with which the feminine reader can readily identify. Her starting point was her own personal experience. Friedan had everything a woman from the 1950's was supposed to have--a fantastic husband, wonderful kids, financial security, and a great house--but she was not entirely happy. Society stated......Read More

Cold Mountain Charles Frazier

Ever play one of those RPG video games in which you're on some kind of pursuit? We know that you've remained awake mannertoo late going through a great deal of trendy (and mad) landscapes, attempting to get to some significant castle or Mount Doom. Think about Cold Mountain as the literary second cousin of these games. The principal character--a man named Inman--has deserted the Confederate Army following an accident and is attempting to work his way home. Home is the Cold Mountain region of......Read More

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick

The matter about Philip K. Dick's opinion on reality is the fact that it only remains reality as long as you don't blink. In that respect, his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Is sort of just like a three-shell game. Take your eyes off Dick's shifting, twisting, and shuffling palms for a second, and you never know what you'll find beneath the cup: a android posing as a flesh-and-blood person, a movie-star turned galactic deity, or a once bustling town turned grey atomic wasteland?......Read More

Related Topics