1st Edition

Backgrounds for Joyce's Dubliners

By Donald T. Torchiana Copyright 1986
    298 Pages
    by Routledge

    298 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1986. Dubliners was James Joyce’s first major publication. Setting it at the turn of the century, Joyce claims to hold up a ‘nicely polished looking-glass’ to the native Irishman. In Backgrounds for Joyce’s Dubliners, the author examines the national, mythic, religious and legendary details, which Joyce builds up to capture a many-sided performance and timelessness in Irish life.

    Acknowledging the serious work done on Dubliners as a whole, in this study Professor Torchiana draws upon a wide range of published and unpublished sources to provide a scholarly and satisfying framework for Joyce’s world of the ‘inept and the lower middle class’. He combines an understanding of Joyce’s subtleties with a long-standing personal knowledge of Dublin. This title will make fascinating reading for scholars and students of Joyce’s writing as well as for those interested in early twentieth century Irish social history.

    Acknowledgements;  Introduction: James Joyce’s Method in Dubliners;  1. "The Sisters": the Three Fates and the Opening of Dubliners  2. "An Encounter": Joyce’s History of Irish Failure in Roman, Saxon, and Scandinavian Dublin  3. "Araby": the Self-Discovery of a Double Agent  4. "Eveline": Eveline and the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque  5. "After the Race": Our Friends the French, the Races of Castlebar, and Dun Laoghaire  6. "Two Gallants": a Walk through the Ascendancy  7. "The Boarding House": the Sacrament of Marriage, the Annunciation, and the Bells of St George’s  8. "A Little Cloud": the Prisoner of Love  9. "Counterparts": Hell and the Road to Beggar’s Bush  10. "Clay": Maria , Samhain, and the Girls Next Door in Drumcondra  11. "A Painful Case": the View from Isolde’s Chapel, Tower, and Fort

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