Category: Short stories

Hard to say anything new about this story but I’ll say I love it, firstly! A very perfect short story with the last few pages building up in the way a short story should do- a little bit of a twist and an understanding of the world is shown through the eyes of Gabriel, the main character.

I love so many things about this story-the fact it is set in snow and winter and Christmas. The quirky dinner party, singing and drunken people.The hugely interesting main characters of Gabriel and Gretta, his wife. The human relationships at the heart of it, the fact that we cannot truly no a person or think we know. The shock of it all.

Peter Murphy takes on this story in the new Dubliners 100. I am almost afraid to read it as I have read many reviews that say the original Dead is not even noticed or referenced in Murphy’s story. I have also read interviews with him where he says he wasn’t phased about this task. I find that odd and wonder if this is the truth. I think when you have the world’s greatest and most well-known short story, that to say you wouldn’t be phased by re imagining it is slighting unnerving to me.

The Dead is the last short story in the Dubliners collection by James Joyce.

Grace-a short story in Dubliners by James Joyce

this story opens with a strange scene. A man, Mr. Kernan has fallen down  stairs in a pub in Dublin city and is unconscious. After much confusion, Mr. Kernan leaves with a friend of his, Jack Power. Mr Kernan seems unable to talk about or remember what has happened.

When they get home, Mr. Kernan goes to bed and Mr. Power speaks to the children and Mrs. Kernan. Mrs Kernan is worried about her husband’s drinking and Mr Power promises to help.

The story then moves to a Jesuit Church service and we hear the priest, Father Purdon speaking.  Mr. Kernan,  Mr. Power, and some other male friends sit by each other. From the red-lit pulpit, Father Purdon preaches and calls himself a spiritual accountant of sorts.

He tells them to count up their sins and compare the sins to their clear conscience. He tells them if this balances, God’s grace will save them if their faults are rectified.

Some nights later, Mr Kernan’s friends visit him to help him to turn over a new leaf and join a Catholic retreat or cleansing service. Mr. Kernan is a former protestant who became a Catholic due to his wife’s pressure but never really accepted the church. His friends reveal their plans for the retreat and start to talk about religion.

Mr. Kernan does agree that he will join the retreat but refuses to light any candles saying that he does not believe in magic.

This story is structured under a framework of  fall, conversion, and redemption in terms of religion.

The story divides up into three pieces and each piece show the process of redemption.

Mr. Kernan is literally the “fallen man.”

The second part of the story looks at Mr. Kernan’s conversion,and his friend’s reliance on big terms and names to make themselves look serious and pious. Is Mr. Kernan’s conversion a sham.

The last part of the story is meant to deal with Mr. Kernan’s “cleansing” yet it doesn’t happen. He goes to church and listens to the priest, but the story does not follow his rise from the fall.

The church is critiqued. It is not a place of healing at all as it should be. Interesting that Father Purdon shares his name with the name of the street that is home to the red-light district, or prostitution area, of Dublin, and his pulpit ha  a red light. All images pointing to sin not redemption.

Joyce is asking if grace can save a man from sin. Mr Kernan has no sin. The priest has no grace either and acts like an accountant. These men are all searching for grace yet never find it. A cycle that goes on and on throughout Dubliners.

Grace is published in Dubliners by James Joyce.

A Mother, a short story by Elske Rahill, Dubliners 100

Dubliners 100 was an ambitious project. There was always going to be comparisons in style and theme but the more I read, I think the secret to the success of Dubliners 100 is in how well the writer shows us a social commentary of Dublin as it is now.

This is what A mother aims to do. A story of a mother who is quite the middle class and conservative woman. She marries an accountant but would have preferred a solicitor. They obviously don’t love each other yet have children who they send to a Colaiste, where the best Leaving Cert results. Similar to Joyce’s version yet brought brilliantly up to date. We get honest insight into how the education system works in Ireland today. A very truthful look at why parents really send their children to certain schools. It mentions Educate Together and Gaelscoileanna and I think it really hits on the debate of where we send children to be educated. Interesting.

The mother in this story is on the parents’ association of her child’s school, something that probably didn’t exist in Joyce’s Dublin.

The story spirals slightly out of control, ending in a bizarre party where mothers can relive their wedding day. I don’t think it works though I get what the author was trying to do. It has a compares cleverly with the scene at the concert hall in Joyce’s story.

This story succeeds as it has completely caught on one of the “elephants in the room” in terms of social class, education and parenting in Ireland today. Joyce would have been confused and definitely have laughed at these people.

A Mother is available in Dubliners 100 by Tramp Press.

 

 

A Mother by James Joyce

A Mother is a brilliantly observed piece of society in Dublin at the time. A mother who has married because she feels she has to. Sends her children to the best schools where they learn French and Gaeilge. They learn piano and the harp. One of the daughters is due to play at a concert but the Mammy is organising and managing everything. We don’t really hear from the daughter. We end on a huge eruption on the part of the mother in front of the other performers at the concert the daughter is meant to be performing at.

This story has the most to play about with in an updated version. Ireland hasn’t moved on that much. I’ll be looking to see how the middle-class Mammy will be depicted

A Mother by James Joyce is available in Dubliners.