Dubliners

Rating:
Summary: Perfection!
Review: My first encounter with Joyce was an English Lit. course in college, some twenty years ago now. We were assigned to read an anthologized version of "The Dead", and I initially approached it as one does all such reading requirements at that foolish age; however, this particular story ending up affecting me quite unlike anything I had ever read before. Dubliners is a beautifully written collection of thematically inter-related stories involving day to day life in early 20th century Dublin - stories that masterfully evoke what Faulkner described in his Nobel address as being the essential nature of true art: A portrayal of the human heart in conflict with itself. "The Dead" is the final story in the collection, and my favorite. I have re-read it numerous times and am so consumed by it that I'm not even able to provide an objective review. The final pages, from the point where Gabriel and Greta leave the party, to the end of the story, are absolutly stunning; the poetry of the words, the profound humanity represented - defies description. As in the final line of Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo" - You must change your life.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking
Review: The Dead will lift you. It is one of the few stories written that can not only absorb the reader but take them into flight. Simply the finest short story written.

Rating:
Summary: A definite read!
Review: Joyce's style abounds through 15 stories which make you want to read more! A great book, in all cases!

Rating:
Summary: proof of heaven
Review: I read the story "The Dead " in high school (actually, we were assigned to read "Eveline" but I had heard that "The Dead" was the greatest short story in English) and it is to date the only story that has actually brought tears to my eyes. Not that I have not been moved by a great many books, but the countless time I have reread this story have not dimmed its effect in the slightest. On my wall I have a framed quotation from the story that my father calligraphed (is that a verb?) for me: "Better pass boldly into that other world in the full glory of some passion than fade and wither dismally with age." Though I find the first line of the story somewhat ridiculous-- "Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally swept off her feet." No she wasn't-- she was figuratively swept off her feet. But even thinking about the ending makes me choke up. Absolutely gorgeous. ben zelkowicz

Rating:
Summary: Beautifuly written and masterfully structured!
Review: As I entered into my first year of college, Dubliners was the first book presented to me as reading material. Never will I forget this beautiful compilation of short stories.

For those who admire and love an author's ability to use imagery and symbolism, this is probably one of the top 10 books that could ever be read.

I particularly enjoyed the story "Eveline". This story impacted me the most. Maybe because it was the first one I read, maybe because of the teacher's enthusiasm, but most likely ecause of the incredible use of symbols that moved me so. I was "blown away" by the imagery of dust, cold, family, familiarity, routine, etc. All themes that are so relevant in OUR lives and that we can "feel" a part of.

I do not want to give away the story, for you must read it to believe it. All I can say is that this is one of the most beautiful stories within the book, in my opinion. As for the book itself, I cannot say anything negative about it. Easy to read and easy to understand, it is probably one of the most fabulous books ever put together.

I have read some of the short stories over 20 times!

Rating:
Summary: A sly move turns into a passion
Review: Having read Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" in a college English course, I was delighted to see another Joyce work on my syllabus a year later..."Dubliners". However, much as our Two Gallants skipped school, my experience was also a learning one, which I would like to share: We had to have the Dubliners finished, and due to the amount of work I had, I had only read "The Sisters". We had to pair up and discuss a story for 10 minutes, and then share with the class our findings. With my luck, I was paired up with a student who was in the same situation as myself. Another student picked "The Sisters" and I picked "Clay" as it only had 8 pages. During the 10 minutes, we read Clay, and I was spellbound. We gave a fantastic discussion, and I was hooked. I don't advise the first experience of Dubliners to be like my own, but if one can truly love a story within 10 minutes of reading it, you know you have a work of art on your hands (Joycean pun intended). I also remember how moved I was with "The Dead" as most are. The one adjective I could describe it with is "hypnotic". Joyce adeptly tackles those questions we deal with today such as: -can consistent praying save you from the inevitable beating? (Two Gallants) -is the adult world all it's cracked up to be? (Araby) -Exactly what did happen to that plum cake?! (Clay)

Rating:
Summary: WOW...
Review: I don't know how I can describe this book here. Suffice it to say it's one of those books that will make it onto my so-called "permanent" cabinet from where I pull out the most overused and dog-eared of my books. Joyce writes with realistic yet moving prose that is among the most amazing that I have ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Deliciously Perfect
Review: My favorite thing about Joyce is that you can just pick up "Dubliners" and read it and be completely satisfied with the short stories. And then, if you want to be scholarly and give yourself a challenge, you can delve into them like a crunchy apple and ask yourself all those questions the characters seem to be asking themselves. Why are the children ditching school? What else is going on? No doubt that Joyce is a master of the English language, and his collection of woven stories only supports this genuine amazing habit of his to write beautifully. As an aspiring writer, I tend to remind myself why I try and write by reading "The Dead" every so often. There is no image that I can think of as so powerful, so moving, as Gabriel watching the snow fall down, falling over Michael Furey's grave. It puts so much into perspective. Family, friends, living life to its fullest...it's swelling how much you can get out of each of these stories. I've read other writings by Joyce, "Portrait" and a shot at "Finnegan's" and someday will tackle "Ulysses", but for now this is my favorite work by him, and "The Dead," if anything, is the reason to read this.

Rating:
Summary: The peak of Joyce's art in fixed parameters of literature
Review: Joyce presents his native capital and its inhabitants in a manner without pretension or glorification, in stark contrast to more nationistically motivated figures of the time. Yeat's short play, though hardly a fixed representation of his persona, 'Cathleen ni Houlhihan' is a particular example of this. Through the stream of consciousness of Stephen Deladus in 'Portrait of an Artist' and 'Ulysses', Joyce reasons that nationalist sentiment should not smother the modern generation, but that ordinary, everyday life is far more significant. The germination of this concept is apparent in 'Dubliners'. The child's obliviousness to the dodgy priest in 'The sisters' and the effect of the pervert to the adventuring boys in 'An encounter' can be used as exemplary of Joyce's early childlike viewpoints. Though not at the same claustrophobic level of the empathy in 'Portrait' or the occupation of mind in 'Ulysses', the events are expertly made to feel central to the universe, anathema to and mass natinolist feeling. It is the personally local, not the superficially cultural that Joyce attaches importance to, and 'Dubliners' is a genius' first step of a complex analysis of the human psyche. JB

Rating:
Summary: Do not be fooled...
Review: "Dubliners" is not a group of short stories. It is a beautiful pattern of prose poems, weaving together alternating threads of hope and disappointment. Despite the often sharp Joycean irony, Gabriel Conroy, Mr. Duffy, and Eveline are all real, and their disappointments as well. Dubliners is all the answers that you'll ever get asking yourself the reason for a raining sky...Only a man as uniquely religious as Joyce--an ex-Catholic who retained an ineffable faith in the transcendental humanity in art--could give us these revelations of people circumscribed by fate and recognizing themselves.