Category: reviews

Clay, a short story by James Joyce.

Joyce works like an engineer in the Dubliners collection. Each story is fit into the last and forecasts the next. Clay follows the dark, angry story of Farrington, a nothing character who causes so much tragedy in his life and others.
When you read Clay the first time, your brain will think “meh”, a nice, gentle story about a gentle woman who likes her cakes. But, go read it again. No, read it three times.
This story has been molded to contrast with the badness of Counterparts, the story before it. But, in many ways,the characters and setting are the same and come to the same conclusion. This story is needed.

Clay can be read in Dubliners by James Joyce. you can download it for free on kindle or buy a physical one for €3!

A little cloud by John Kelly, a short story from Dubliners 100

This is a strange one to review. I really like John Kelly’s style and his humour. He writes very observational stuff and this strength helps cement this story as a worthy version of Joyce’s A little cloud.

The small thing, and it is a small thing is that Kelly takes Joyce’s story and simply changes certain details. He makes Gallaher into an author and Chandler’s daughter into a teenager and his wife into a deplorable person. These were clever adjustments as Joyce reflected on Dublin society and what a mess it was, especially the pitiful life of Chandler.

However, the story is copied and pasted, almost word for word in many areas and the story arc is totally copied. Again, Kelly was probably making a point in that Ireland hadn’t really changed that much and that Joyce’s universal vision of melancholy of the routine of life is still there and will remain there.

A good take.

A little cloud written by John Kelly is published in Dubliners 100 by Tramp Press

The Boarding House, a short story by Oona Frawley-Dubliners 100

There is a lot to like in this story but the one thing I don’t like( and it is a personal thing) is the use of the first-person “Oirish Mammy” voice that many authors use to sounds humorous or ironic or some other reason!

This story is narrated in three voices, which helps dilute that “Oirish” voice somewhat. We have the Mammy, the daughter and the son-in-law. The husband and wife live with the Mammy after the bust of the Irish economy. The husband, in his section, explains the reasons behind his addiction. The wife, in her section, tries to see why her husband is doing what he is doing and the Mammy’s section comes across somewhat not fresh. It is only in the last few pages, where the daughter narrates her sadness, upon stroking her very pregnant belly, that we hear the Mammy’s voice in a fresh way. Through muffled voices downstairs as she tries to speak to her son-in-law and save their marriage.

I was really moved by this story, a clever variation again on the Boarding House theme but more emotive and stirring. Oona sees more in human nature than Joyce does and shows her characters more empathy and understanding. I really liked it. Just lose the Mrs Doyle voice and nobody gets hurt!

Another of my favourites.

The Boarding House by Oona Frawley is published in Dubliners 100, Tramp Press.

The Boarding House, a short story by James Joyce. Available in Dubliners.

Another favourite of mine, The Boarding House is great example of a story that will never age. A “Madam” runs a boarding house and utilises her daughter, Polly to help her “entertain” the men. We know what type of house the Madam is running! It is a seedy look at Dublin and a cynical look at the power in social classes and money in Ireland at the time. Very much brings me to thinking of the Madam in the “Love/Hate” series. Not much has changed!

Polly is to be set up with a wealthy clerk, marriage is to be arranged and Mr. Doran, the clerk must accept the deal that Madam is making. Mr. Doran is perplexed. However, he is as bad as Polly’s mother. Indeed, Polly is a deceptive woman too so the whole house is full of cunning thieves who will do anything to make money and get what they want. A good match.

“Dublin is such a small city, everyone knows everyone elses business” Still true today. Am looking forward to Orna Frawley’s take on The Boarding House in my next blog post!

Two Gallants by Evelyn Conlon-a short story from Dubliners 100

The two gallants is probably one of my favourites of the Dubliners’ collection by Joyce. I love the setting, the characters and the historical meaning. Joyce himself lists this as the most important and his favourite of the 15 stories.

I would think that any author taking this on would do well to use their version as a commentary on the relationship Ireland has now within the political or social sphere of Europe. But, that might be too obvious.

Instead, Evelyn Conlon focused on the cyclical nature of the Dubliners and the two characters within Joyce’s wider work such as Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses.

If you read my last blog post, you might remember that this story is about two naughty, young lads  who spend their days conning maids out of money and probably sex. Joyce uses this theft as a symbol of where he felt Ireland stood in terms of their history and relationship with England.

Conlon steers it in a different direction. Her story is set at a Joyce conference. Clever stuff. She focuses on academics who steal their colleague’s writing. She is making the theme new and fresh yet keeping the original one. It is a challenge to read, compared to the original as it flits back and forth, in and out out of the city, conference and Joyce’s story. It also cleverly commits a theft in its own way, once from Joyce’s story and then from William Trevor’s story called “Two More Gallants”, which was a response or cover version to Joyce.

This not only reinforces the idea of theft and betrayal, the huge themes from the original Dubliners but it connects the story to the whole of the Dubliners’ collection, Ulysses and Finegan’s Wake as the two characters from the original story pop up in Ulysses.

As we know, Joyce’s Two Gallants sets the story in a circular map and route within Dublin city, the characters arriving back to where they came from  so credit must be given to Evelyn for being this inventive and respectful to the voice and intention of Joyce. I feel that even thought this wasn’t the most entertaining of the new Dubliners’ story that it stands up brilliantly as a homage to Joyce but making it fresher for a present day Dublin.

Two Gallants written by Evelyn Conlon can be found in the new Dubliners 100 collection published by Tramp Press.

Evelyn, a short story by James Joyce

On a simple level, this story tells us about Eveline, a 19 year old lady who is trying to make a decision. To stay with her somewhat abusive father in Dublin or travel and move abroad with her sailor-boy beau, Frank to a lifetime of happiness. Her mother has died and so has her brother and she feels the guilt of being loyal to her father pulling her. The climax of the story again, like many of the stories in Dubliners, comes quickly. She makes her mind up but then changes it in the last paragraph. A really emotional and powerful story.

We get the themes of paralysis, Eveline is frozen in her thoughts and movements at the end of the story. We get that awful depressing theme of death. Her closest family members have died and she even imagines that Frank might kill her though we are given no other references to him being aggressive.

It can be read as a basic quest fable. As can the stories of Araby and The Encounter. Eveline dreams of moving to Argentina, to escape her abusive father and hold her mother’s memory true. It is an idealistic persuit, though. She builds up to it and nearly follows through but falls in the last part. In the end, her guilt and sense of duty to routine, her father and her home holds her back. We do not know if she goes ever.

Eveline, a short story is published in Dubliners by James Joyce.

Come back tomorrow to read my comparative analysis and review of Eveline by Donal Ryan. I am very excited about this one. Donal Ryan is new and I am hoping this quality will bring with it the thing I have been searching for in this new Dubliners 100 collection.