James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882 into a middle-class family. He graduated in
mordern languages and travelled a lot. In 1904 he me this future wife, Nora Barnacle,
mother of his two children, and the pair moved to Trieste where he became English
teacher. In 1914 he published ‘Dubliners’, a short collection of stories and then in france he
published ‘Ulysses’,written when he was in Zurich. In 1923 he began writing his second
major work, ‘Finnegans wake’. He began suffering from a serious eye desease which left
him almost blind, but despite that he continued writing. He died in 1941.
DUBLINERS:
Was published in 1914, a collection of fifteen stories where are described the lives of
different people in Dublin. The stories are told from the point of view of the main character
with an external narrator. The main set is Dublin, which spirit is a link between all the
characters.
The 15 stories follow the four phases of human life, from childhood to adolescence,
maturity and adulthood, where the protagonists come from every kind of class and job.
Joyce focuses on specific moments of their lives, where they fist seem to be normal
activities but then they become important moments of self awareness.
The last story of the collection is ‘The Dead’, the longest one when Joyce has the ability to
help emotions and relationships.
THEMES:
The stories focuses on two themes: PARALYSIS and EPIPHANY.
The paralysis is a condition caused by external forces, in many cases the protagonists
have some desire they want to fulfill but they are forced to give up because of their family,
culture or religion.
The epiphany is a special moment in which an external object or a banal situation lead the
character to a sudden self-realization about himself.
DUBLINERS:
Was published in 1914,a collection of fifteen stories with a symmetrical organization. The
15 stories are divided in 4 sections: ‘stories of childhood’,’Stories of adolescence’,’stories
of mature life’ and ‘stories of public life’. The last story of the collection is ‘the Dead’,the
longest one. Each title gove a sense of relative anonymity and insignificance. Even the title
‘Dubliners’ is generic. The book is also a book about human fate. Joyce wanted to
transform ordinary events,daily gestures into something more meaningful,with a symbolic
value. With the word paralysis reveals the main subject of the stories,the immobility of a
city.
STYLE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES:
Joyce’style is unique and complicates the simplicity of the stories with the use of numerous
symbols and the free indirect style. His most discussed style innovation is the ‘epiphanic
method’. At first, Stephen Dedalus decsribes ephiphanies as a ‘sudden spiritual
manifestation’, this word comes from the Greek and means ‘Showing’, and it’s when the
character reaches a moment of intense perception.
THEMES AND MOTIFS:
Dublin is the centre of the paralysis. The paralysis can be physical,moral,emotional or
psychological and can be manifested as corruption or frustration. Characters aren’t able to
live their lives to the full and there are images which testifies to the ease of paralysis (ex: in
‘The Sisters’ the empty fireplace), all images of dysfunction,useless objects. Also
relationships between men and women are difficult, there are examples of betrayals.
Society seems to think that emigration is often the only possibility to a better life.
DUBLINERS:
