Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Dubliner
Go deeper: the whole of Dubliner
About 4 h 40 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love short, precise fiction, a city as a character, and ordinary lives shaped by dreams of escape, love and duty. It also offers a welcoming first step into Joyce.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Fifteen short stories can hold a whole city. In Dubliners, James Joyce does exactly that. He wrote the book between 1904 and 1907, as a young man living abroad, and it waited years for a publisher before it appeared in 1914. The stories move through childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. Nothing loud happens, yet each one hides a small crisis. You meet people who want to leave, to rise, to love or simply to be noticed, and who are held back by money, church, family or fear. Joyce looks at them closely and never scolds.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Three boys begin to see DublinFree
- 2Young adults weigh escape against duty
- 3Adults discover how small their lives are
- 4Public life shows politics, art and religion
- 5Paralysis and the sudden moment of insight
- 6A plain style that hides careful design
Punkt 1 von 6
Three boys begin to see Dublin
The book opens with three stories told by a boy. They are The Sisters, An Encounter and Araby. In the first, the boy is shaken by the death of Father Flynn, an old priest who taught him Latin. At the dead man's house the grown-ups speak in hints and half sentences.
In An Encounter, the boy and a friend skip school for a day of adventure. They dream of far-off ships, but Dublin keeps showing its ordinary face. Then an older man with strange talk makes the day uneasy.
In Araby, the boy is quietly in love with a friend's sister and promises to bring her something from a bazaar. Each tale marks a moment when a child sees that the adult world is smaller and more closed than he thought.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of Dubliner
About 4 h 40 min to read.Who’s who
- The boy narrator
- A thoughtful child in the opening stories, he observes adults and imagines adventure beyond his familiar streets.
- Eveline
- A young woman keeping house for her harsh father, she considers leaving Ireland with her sailor sweetheart, Frank.
- Little Chandler
- A modest clerk with poetic ambitions, he envies the wider life of his journalist friend Ignatius Gallaher.
- Farrington
- A copying clerk resentful of his sarcastic boss, he seeks companionship and relief among his drinking friends.
- Maria
- A kindly laundry worker, she visits the family of Joe, whom she helped raise.
- Mr Duffy
- A solitary bank cashier devoted to routine, he forms an unexpected friendship with Mrs Sinico.
- Gabriel Conroy
- A teacher and writer, he attends his aunts' annual party with his wife and prepares a speech.
- Ignatius Gallaher
- Little Chandler's friend, he returns from London with a successful journalism career and worldly conversation.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 69,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Dubliner
What is Dubliners about?
Dubliners is a book of fifteen short stories about ordinary people in Dublin around 1900. They are grouped by childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life, and they show people trapped by habit, church, money and family.
What does paralysis mean in Dubliners?
Joyce used paralysis to describe a city where people feel stuck. Characters dream of escape, love or success, but fear, duty and routine keep them still, and few of them act on what they want.
Is Dubliners hard to read?
It is the easiest of Joyce's major works. The language is plain and the stories are short.
When was Dubliners written and published?
Joyce wrote the stories between 1904 and 1907. Publishers hesitated for years over some content and names, and the book finally appeared in 1914. The settings are real Dublin streets and places.
Which story in Dubliners is the best known?
The Dead, the final story, is the best known. It is set at a winter party and is often studied and adapted. Araby, Eveline and A Painful Case are also read widely.
Cite this edition
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/dubliners.
Joyce, J. (2026). Dubliners. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dubliners (Original work published 1914)
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dubliners.
@book{joyce2026dubliners,
author = {Joyce, James},
title = {Dubliners},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dubliners},
note = {First published 1914}
}
