MobileRead December 2013 Discussion: Dubliners by James Joyce (spoilers)

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

Love this poem, Kenny! I just checked out some of your other poems and am very impressed.

Thanks for the Poetry Foundation recommendations, fantasyfan and Tom. I just got the android app from Google Play.

Thank you and sorry for the off-topic.

and yes the Poetry Foundation is a great resource!

[Bookworm_Girl]

I finished Dubliners a few weeks ago, but I have been slowly reflecting upon everyone's insightful comments. Initially, I didn't like how the stories abruptly ended. They were so dark and gritty and full of despair. No happy endings here. However, I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the people and places that made one feel like looking at photographs as if you were there as an observer.

Then I realized that the stories were progressing in stages from childhood to adolescence, adulthood and eventually death. Then I did some research on Joyce and found the quote regarding paralysis. I also learned that Joyce was associated with naturalism, which meant his writing style conveyed the cold facts without emotion and interpretation inserted by the author. Now all that realistic description made sense, and I understood why the characters had epiphanies but the reader was left to infer that there would be no real change effected and life would go on as it had. I enjoyed the stories much more after those realizations.

I also appreciated the collection much more when I stepped back from the individual stories and considered the major themes (e.g. love, parent-child relationships, disappointments, wanting to escape Dublin either through alcohol or foreign countries). There was so much to compare and contrast between the stories when considered in these terms. Also, I thought about how some of these themes were represented in the different stages of maturity, such as the love of a young boy or girl versus married couples.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks for these great insights, Bookworm_Girl and others. Interesting food for thought.

Do get to see the Albatrosses, Belle. They are wonderful, majestic creatures. I'll talk to you by email.

[BelleZora]

Yes, my thanks also, Bookworm_Girl. I particularly appreciated your mention of naturalism.

Whatever we thought about Dubliners, there is no question that it gave us a lot to discuss.

[Dazrin]

Zombie thread, I know, but I thought I would append this with Stephen King's answer to the question "should teachers push kids to read more challenging books?" From this article "How Stephen King Teaches Writing", relevant quote is bolded (of course the last sentence is pretty good too. )

King: You don’t want to leave them in despair, which is why it’s such a horrible idea to try teaching Moby-Dick or Dubliners to high school juniors. Even the bright ones lose heart. But it’s good to make them reach a little. They’ve got to see there are brighter literary worlds than Twilight. Reading good fiction is like making the jump from masturbation to sex.

[BelleZora]

[Luffy]

King's reaction to Stephenie Meyer and James Patterson always entertains me. Are there any other authors that he derides?