Dubliners

I've grown to rather like James Joyce. I liked A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners as well proved very enjoyable. I guess that means I will have to give the Ulysseus I have standing in Berlin another shot at some point. We'll see. Time will surely take care of that.

Dubliners is made up of fifteen stories taking a closer look at variety of characters living in the Irish capital. The protagonists populating these stories, this town, are nothing special. They are pious and crooks. Young and old, satisfied with having left Dublin unhappy at having stayed; married, faithful and abstinent. They are neither heroic nor afraid. They are you and me, some more reflective some less. Joyce paints all of them in extremely humane colors, makes them accessible to the reader and allows him to easily relate to them. There is grand scheme hidden behind their description and I am not even sure one knows much more about Dublin after having read these stories apart from some mention of Irish nationalism these stories could take place anywhere and anytime. Joyce is great in giving character studies without divulging every little piece of information to the reader. If only Ulysseus weren't so hard and difficult to follow, I would hold him in even higher esteem.