What a wonderful choice for this week’s selection! I am actually teaching it tomorrow in class. James Joyce can be rather intimidating (to put it mildly) in the height of his High Modernist experimentation. In this story (and in the entire collection of _Dubliners_), Joyce is at his most approachable. Although Joyce is never one for easy sentimentality, he cultivates such compassion for his marginalized figures in this collection—like the young man in this narrative as he desperately attempts to find some vestige of hope, beauty, & grace in his state of quiet & unrecognized despair by those surrounding him in this impoverished setting. What I find most striking is the level of empathy he feels for these figures—viewed as unworthy of respect or attention by other figures in this colorless world shaped by the all-encompassing “moral paralysis” Joyce references in the introduction to the collection. His tenderness toward these vulnerable and disappointed characters is notable, perhaps as he feared he could become one of these figures trapped in self-protective stasis if he did not escape this deadened environment in his own life.
The most taught short story by Joyce. _Dubliners_ closes, as you must know, with "The Dead"--its brilliance, incomparable.
I almost posted The Dead, but didn’t quite have the time to type it out. Another day… Thanks for your comment 💚
The Dead should be read every New Year's Day.
Such vivid writing!
Thank you for reading, Amy 🤎
So long since I last read this piece by James Joyce. Enjoyed it more than I remembered!
Many thanks!
You’re welcome, Dorinda. Thank you for reading 💚
I enjoyed this so much, many thanks for posting.
Unbearably poignant and yes, brilliant.
(Also, I could slap that Uncle, lol ...)
You’re welcome, Sue. I’m so pleased you enjoyed it 💛
I thoroughly enjoy your excerpts, Victoria.
Thank you, Janice 💛
Perhaps wonderful writing - of an incredibly wretched young life.
Thank you for reading, Tom! :)
'Tis wonderful...the words have such a calming rhythm as the setting unfolds.
Thank you for reading, Janice 🤎
Love this story so much. I read it for the first time in a college writing class 10 years ago and still think of it often!
Thank you, Kelsey. It’s wonderful when stories linger in the memory… 🧡
"I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away." Sigh.
Beautiful 💛
What a wonderful choice for this week’s selection! I am actually teaching it tomorrow in class. James Joyce can be rather intimidating (to put it mildly) in the height of his High Modernist experimentation. In this story (and in the entire collection of _Dubliners_), Joyce is at his most approachable. Although Joyce is never one for easy sentimentality, he cultivates such compassion for his marginalized figures in this collection—like the young man in this narrative as he desperately attempts to find some vestige of hope, beauty, & grace in his state of quiet & unrecognized despair by those surrounding him in this impoverished setting. What I find most striking is the level of empathy he feels for these figures—viewed as unworthy of respect or attention by other figures in this colorless world shaped by the all-encompassing “moral paralysis” Joyce references in the introduction to the collection. His tenderness toward these vulnerable and disappointed characters is notable, perhaps as he feared he could become one of these figures trapped in self-protective stasis if he did not escape this deadened environment in his own life.