JAMES JOYCE

DUBLINERS, 1914

James Joyce's first published book of fiction is DUBLINERS, a collection of fifteen short stories, written and revised from 1904 to 1914. In his stories James Joyce provides a portrait of Dublin, describing the city in minute detail.

In the extract EVELINE, Dublin becomes a little paradigm. The city represents the centre of paralysis. (The use of the word centre reminds the intelligent reader the modern age: people were still looking for a point of reference.) In order to the novelist Dubliners are unable to move, to be dynamic, they are inactive people because they never did anything to change their situation. Also the protagonist Eveline is unable to make any autonomous decision. Dubliners are slaves of convention, in particular of what other people thought of them. To be free is something about they are not ready, because it implies responsibilities and balance. For example Eveline never knows what is right and what is wrong, there is no balance inside herself.