Let's talk about Dubliners. What's your favorite story?
I'm partial to An Encounter. Reading it for the first time it's a legitimately scary moment once the man starts ranting about corporal punishment an the narrator doesn't know what to do, and that last line, "And I was penitent; for in my heart I had always despised him a little," is fantastic.
How the hell does he write such a good story in less than ten pages? And at age 25?
anyways, in b4 farts
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It's not h write good things at that age. Getting them published is the hard part, as Joyce's own experiences show.
Yeah, but I personally can't string together a workable sentence of prose so for the more compact stories I'm amazed at how much he accomplishes. Especially considering his reputation for obscurity via Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake, neither of which I've read.
I'm working my way through it now. It's genuinely amazing.
My favorite so far is probably "After the Race," for the sheer lushness and beauty of the described events, mingling of course with the underlying melancholy of the main character.
It's surprising how affecting and moving these stories are in so little space. For example, in "Clay," when Maria loses the plum cake I felt genuinely awful for her. Perhaps it's because I know what it's like when things don't go according to plan, and your attempt to play magician and surprise someone falls apart. And, perhaps, that's the key with the power of the stories: Joyce really seems to know just how people feel in various instances, and he can communicate these feelings with extreme effectiveness.
You have to remember that he wrote those two years later. He pretty much gave up on writing normally after how terrible his experience with trying to get Dubliners published was.
I am finishing up the book right now with A Mother and The Dead left to go, it's a small book but for some reason it took me forever to get through. I don't know why, I respect the artistry and the subtlety of Joyce very much, but at the same time I really didn't feel like moving on to the next chapter every time I finished one. I am hoping Portrait is a more entertaining read.
There is a lot of literary techniques that went over my head when I studied a little bit about this book. Like how he uses colors thematically throughout the whole book, and how the very first paragraph basically sums up the entire theme of the book itself. I am really bad at picking up such subtlety, it makes me feel like a retard, but oh well at least I learned about it now so I can try to look for things like that in the future.
My favorite stories have definitely been Araby, Two Galliants, A Little Cloud, and a Painful Case.
A Painful Case is definitely my favorite so far, so fucking depressing.
>There is a lot of literary techniques that went over my head when I studied a little bit about this book. Like how he uses colors thematically throughout the whole book, and how the very first paragraph basically sums up the entire theme of the book itself. I am really bad at picking up such subtlety, it makes me feel like a retard, but oh well at least I learned about it now so I can try to look for things like that in the future.
Meh, that's what introductions and annotations are for. I think the stories can be enjoyed for the prose and plot[/spoilers] before you get into any further analysis. No doubt they're dense with allusions, though.
My version doesn't have any annotations or introduction so I just googled some PDFs on it to get a general background of Dublin at the time and a few guiding principals Joyce uses in each story. It's all still extremely subtlety done. I was stupid enough to not realize that the creepy guy in An Encounter exposed himself to the kids because it merely alludes to it. I still don't understand the significance about the green eyes though, is it because green eyes is an Irish genetic trait or something?
Green as an eye color represents both Ireland and Odysseus/Ulysses (he was said to have had bright colored eyes).
It connects the old man with one of the sailors he sees, but I don't know the significance.
He wrote this at 25? Wow should I just kill myself now?
Had to look up a little background as well. As I understand it there was some tension between Catholics and Protestants at the time, which was interesting to learn about.
My favorite is "The Dead" -- not a very original choice, but it's so fantastic, and it obviously has the benefit of being longer and having more time to explore its themes and characters. I also really enjoyed "A Little Cloud", which was such a nice, endearing story about a character who's very relatable. All his half-baked artistic aspirations are things I think a lot of us can connect with, and the sense of littleness he feels in life, even when compared to someone as scurrilous as Gallaher. Also, that pitiable shyness he has with his love of poetry, and how he can't bring himself to read some of his favorites out to his wife because he would feel silly. Very sympathetic character.
>I am really bad at picking up such subtlety, it makes me feel like a retard,
Don't feel too bad about it. A lot of people pick these things out of stories after reading them a few times, and, eventually, you'll start to become a more perceptive reader. Also, all of your favorite stories, except fort "Two Gallants", were among my favorites, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you'll love "The Dead", which is the best in the collection imo.
I think I'll have to reread these two. I liked "An Encounter" well enough, but I remember not thinking a whole lot of "After the Race" other than that it struck me as a pretty decent depiction of the vapidity of privileged life. Any particular bit in that story that stands out to you?
What was your favorite part of the dead, everything before or after the couple reaches their room and are alone together?
Dubliners Power Rankings
GOAT Tier
1. The Dead
Masterful Tier
2. A Painful Case
3. A Little Cloud
Excellent Tier:
4.Counterparts
5.Clay
6.The Boarding House
Great Tier
7. An Encounter
8.Two Gallants
9.Eveline
10.Araby
Good Tier:
11.Grace
12.The Sisters
13.A Mother
Personally Didn't Care For Them Tier:
14.Ivy Day in the Committee Room
15. After The Race
The one where the dude masturbates
Sorry if this is stupid, but I got the vibe that the sisters killed the old priest because he was losing his mind and making the church/his name look bad. Probably wrong, but it terrified me as a young teen. Who's gonna kill me?
It terrified me for an entirely different reason. It almost seems as if the priest gets struck with madness by God himself. There's something horrifically arbitrary and strange about the broken chalice driving him insane.
Shoot. I shall read it again. I suppose tend to have a more innocent view of matters than intended (in a godly since)
>Ivy Day in the Committee Room
>in the Personally Didn't Care For Them Tier
Probably because you don't care about Irish history, which is in the center of the story. Still a great story though, there's no bad stories in Dubliners.
>A Painful Case
This one put me out of commission for a week because it was so depressing and relatable.
How can anyone's favorite be anything but The Dead?
garbage all around. dead is sentimental shit.
>tfw you will always have a deeper connection to Joyce and dubliners because you grew up in Dublin
Grace was 10/10.
Araby and After the Race too low
A Little Cloud too high
Otherwise legit
This. All of the stories are good but none hold a candle to The Dead.