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Dubliners

 James Joyce
 

Key Facts

 
full title ·  Dubliners
 
author ·  James Joyce
 
type of work ·  Collection of short stories
 
genre ·  Realist fiction; urban literature
 
language  ·  English (with some Irish and Hiberno-English sayings)
 
time and place written ·  Early 19 00s, Ireland and Italy
 
date of first publication ·  19 14
 
publisher ·  Grant Richards
 
narrator · The first three stories are narrated by the main character of each story, which in all three cases is a young, unnamed boy. The rest of the stories are narrated by an anonymous third person who pays close attention to circumstantial detail though in a detached manner.
 
point of view · The first three stories, told from the first person, focus on the thoughts and observations of the narrators. In the stories told from the third person, the narrators detail objective information and present characters as they would appear to an outsider, but also present thoughts and actions from the protagonists' points of view, giving the reader a sense of what the characters are feeling.
 
tone · Though told mainly by an anonymous narrator, the stories of Dubliners form a self-conscious examination of Joyce's native city in Ireland. Because the narrator maintains a neutral and distant presence, detecting Joyce's attitude toward his characters is not always easy. The abundance of details about the grim realities of the city and the focus on hardships, however, create a tragic tone and offer a subtle critique.
 
tense ·  Past tense
 
setting (time) ·  Early 19 00s
 
setting (place) ·  Dublin
 
major conflict · Various figures struggle with the challenges of complicated relationships and life in Dublin.
 
themes · The prison of routine; the desire for escape; the intersection of life and death
 
motifs ·  Paralysis; epiphany; betrayal; religion
 
symbols ·  Windows; dusk and nighttime; food
 
foreshadowing · The death of Father Flynn in “The Sisters” announces the focus on death in later stories like “The Dead”; story titles hint at events in the stories
 
 
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