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Title details for Dubliners by James Joyce - Available

Dubliners

by James Joyce
Gerard Doyle
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce that was first published in 1914. The fifteen stories were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of the Irish middle-class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the twentieth century.


The stories were written at a time when Irish nationalism was at its peak and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They center on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment where a character has a special moment of self-understanding or illumination.


The initial stories in the collection are narrated by children as protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence, and maturity.


The stories contained in Dubliners are "The Sisters," "An Encounter," "Araby," "Eveline," "After the Race," "Two Gallants," "The Boarding House," "A Little Cloud," "Counterparts," "Clay," "A Painful Case," "Ivy Day in the Committee Room," "A Mother," "Grace," and "The Dead."

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 15, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400198108
      • File size: 208651 KB
      • Duration: 07:14:41

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 900
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Cold is the heart that can resist a warm Irish accent like Gerard Doyle's, especially when that voice is offering splendid material like this Joyce classic. Each short story is a small jewel that reflects the desires and flaws of humanity, and Doyle treats each moment with the subtlety it requires. Heartbreaking epiphanies abound, and Doyle artfully walks the vocal line between empathy and cool efficiency with his performance. He wisely takes his time with his pacing, giving each word a solid, thoughtful delivery before moving on to the next. DUBLINERS culminates with "The Dead," a complex, thought-provoking story of love and loss that Doyle offers up as gently as a gift. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from July 11, 2005
      Frank and Malachy McCourt and 13 Irish actors bring Joyce's short stories to life in this well-produced audiobook. None of the readers employ a thick accent in the narrative portions, but for dialogue they let their imitative talents shine and their Irish lilts bloom. Brendan Coyle and Charles Keating, reading "A Little Cloud" and "Grace" respectively, give such wonderful expression to the idiosyncrasies of every individual voice that the listener is never confused even when numerous men are talking. Joyce wrote only sparingly in actual dialect, but most of the readers interpret his intentions freely and successfully. Fionnula Flanagan is perfect reading "A Mother," her voice shifting easily between prim and proper tones and fiery indignation punctuated with little sighs. It helps that Joyce's writing is so masterful that when Flanagan and the two other actresses read the three stories that revolve around women, their words sound utterly natural. Not all the performances are on the same level—Stephen Rea's cold, somber voice is apt for the meditative beginning and ending sections of the collection's most famous story, "The Dead," but too flat for the central description of a lively party. This audiobook creates the atmosphere of a fireside storytelling session that will hold any listener in rapt attention.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      James Joyce's only book of short stories, DUBLINERS, provides snap-shots of turn-of-the-century Ireland and epiphanies of youth and adult-hood. Along with the fiction of Chekhov, these episodes pioneered the modern story of inaction, anticlimax, and personal discovery. Many of them number among short fiction's most admired works: "Araby," "Clay," "A Little Cloud," and especially the concluding story, "The Dead." As with the unabridged ULYSSES from Naxos, director Roger Marsh here effectively uses various Irish songs as evocative musical transitions between the stories. Jim Norton's reading is quietly dramatic, dignified, and effective at main-taining the melancholy, meditative tone of the book. He provides a rich, enjoyable listening experience. G.H. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 26, 2017
      Actor Sheridan proves an excellent choice to interpret Joyce’s classic story collection, first published in 1914. He brings an authentic Irish accent and an air of gravitas to the 15 tightly observed scen­­es of ordinary people around Dublin. He infuses life into Joyce’s numerous and wide-ranging characters, from an adolescent boy’s stifling infatuation with the girl who lives across the street (“Araby”) to the husband and wife whose marriage is haunted by the death of the wife’s former lover (“The Dead”), easily handling the shifting points of view from story to story. Each character is given a distinct personality and individual voice. But it is with Joyce’s rich descriptive prose that Sheridan’s skills shine brightest. His thoughtful and heartfelt delivery captures the full emotional weight of the stories, and by the end the listener has been transported to Joyce’s Dublin.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This masterful volume of short stories concerns small, telling moments in the Irish metropolis at the beginning of the last century. Released in 1914 after considerable trouble, it is Joyce's second published work, his first book of fiction, noteworthy because of the excellence of its writing, its vividness, and its psychological depth. Nowhere does it presage the narrative experimentation of the ground-breaking ULYSSES and FINNEGAN'S WAKE; hence, many consider it his most reader-friendly opus. Of the seven or eight audiobook versions, none are completely satisfactory. This one is no exception. But at least Ralph Cosham, often Apollonian to a fault, fully engages the material, which he clearly enjoys. But he is still one stiff actor. Consequently, his attempts at humor fall flat. The trajectory of the stories eludes him, so they just stop rather then end. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Start with what is perhaps the most influential story collection in English, add a dozen Irish readers (many with extensive experience performing Joyce) and you should wind up with a brilliant result. And indeed, there are some outstanding performances: Brendan Coyle's "A Little Cloud" and Jim Norton's "Counterparts" are particularly haunting and sad. Unfortunately, Malachy McCourt and Fionnula Flanagan feel uncomfortable with the text, and Donal Donnelly (who, unimaginably, has recorded an unabridged Ulysses) is simply bombastic. But overall, even if it falls a wee bit short of expectations, there can be no better way to revisit Joyce's most accessible work than this veritable brogues' gallery. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jim Norton continues his interpretation of James Joyce's classic volume of short stories, originally published in 1914. Norton gives us lively characterizations between narration delivered with a solemn detachment. I'm not sure this approach dovetails the author's narrative voice. Whether it does or not, it isn't particularly interesting. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:900
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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