Dubliners (Collins Classics)

My first experience with Joyce and a strong one. I think this is less a shorty story collection and more a collection of sketches. Very many of the stories end unresolved, characters don't change, but we're presented detailed snippets of their lives. The stories do vary a little bit and I felt that some of the ones written later did feel more cohesive. However, they're all very good. Joyce is a talented writer and the stories are engaging, even if they are covering somewhat dull activity - sitting around a room, walking the streets. Dublin is alive here and you can feel it. However, at times the amount of street names and corners can feel like someone milking a word count. "The Sisters," "Araby", "After the Race," "Two Gallants," "A Little Cloud," "A Painful Case," "A Mother" and "The Dead" are standouts. Joyce's style can take getting used to it and his stories are layered and nuanced. I was glad to have the notes, however, I will say that the sheer amount of notes. was actively distracting. A 10 page story had 50 notes! Many of them are just directional street info that wasn't additive. Some were really good and provided depth or knowledge I don't have of Edwardian Dublin. But I found them to sometimes get in the way of the flow of reading. Especially when there were a few in the same sentence. The book also starts to over explain. In the first story, "chalice" has an end note that provides a very basic definition. A little odd given other, more complicated words abound. The book has a neat foreword and a lengthy introduction. The first half of the introduction is very good and provides a good amount of historical background, the second half gets a little self-indulgent in its analysis of the text. I often found some of the analysis to be a little eye-rolly and overboard. That the introduction ends by saying "perhaps we're looking too hard for symbols" also says a lot. While the aforementioned end notes avoid analysis, a few hint at interpretations. The most superfluous one comes when a story is said to hit at the trinity because there are three boys in it. In the end, I was glad to have read the book and appreciated the extra, if they sometimes got in the way. I appreciated the skill but I don't know how much of the book will stay with me outside of those closing paragraphs of "The Dead."

This was on Hemingway’s recommended reading list. Joyce’s descriptions of so many things, is perfect and completely clear. Many times I could envision what he was describing. Wonderful book.

Look at this beautiful new cover for Dubliners! Found this in Classic Penguin Cover.

Joyce was one of the inventors of the modern short story. Don't expect a beginning, a middle and an end. The stories describe the life of the poor and the lower middle class people in Dublin at the end of the 1800s. People are living of expedients, are not well educated, and they make use of Catholicism sometimes to delude themselves and at other times to control other people. The Penguin Edition has excellent notes, and these stories without notes would be impossible to understand: they refer to Irish customs, legends, obscure Catholic rites, Gaelic words, specific shops and street in Dublin, etc. The pages of the book are cut unevenly, to make it look like a "vintage book" but it is very impractical: it makes it impossible to flip through the pages.

A wonderful, fascinating read. The preface and introduction gives focus and historical perspective. Take your time. There is no need to rush, linger and get to know Dublin of a hundred plus years ago. This is my first Joyce book. It will not be my last.

There is no finer collection of short stories than this, and there is no finer use of the English language. A great introduction to the genius, James Joyce.

Great edition! It’s paperback, not hardback with a dust jacket (like I thought it would be) which is really almost preferable. Lots of notes! Love the additional artwork. Highly recommend!

Each of the stories in this book are wonderful, culminating in "The Dead." I would highly recommend it to anyone who is afraid of Joyce.

a very good book that speaks about Ireland and Dublin subjects. it's good to see their live from the author's point of view.

This is a wonderful edition of Dubliners. Would highly recommend it. Useful Appendix and interesting Foreward by Colum McCann. Dubliners is often described as the greatest short story collection in the English language. A view I would not disagree with.

Bellissima edizione Deluxe della Penguin. Ho già qualche volume della Barnes & Nobles e della Penguin Classics. Mi piacciono Tutte. La qualità della carta è ottima e da un tocco retro al volume mantenendo un impatto molto giovanile e moderno. Sono molto soddisfatto.

Oh, what a delight to behold this book! The cover is such a flexible paperback, you can fall asleep on it and it'll still be alright. (Speaking from experience.) It has numerous notes from various prominent scholars of Joyce, ensuring there's always a hand to guide you through the pieces, which is necessary since these are Joyce's works. All in all, a prized edition at this price for any admirer of James Joyce and Modernism.

The introduction is insufferably long and should have been used as an epilogue instead. I don’t see the point of reading through 40 pages describing Joyce’s work while constantly referring to the characters in „Dubliners“, when I haven’t even read the book yet. This would be of much better use at the end of the book. The book itself is awesome. I like the stories, love the edition, I also love the rough-cut pages. It looks great!