Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. The stories present a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle-class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany and the theme of paralysis. The first three stories in the collection are narrated by child protagonists, while the subsequent stories are written in the third person and deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appeared in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The collection progresses chronologically, beginning with stories of youth and progressing in age to culminate in "The Dead". The narrators in Dubliners rarely mediate, which means that there are limited descriptions of their thoughts and emotions. The book has been adapted into various media, including a film adaptation of "The Dead" directed by John Huston in 1987.
Discover a new way to read classics with Quick Read.
This Quick Read edition includes both the full text and a summary for each chapter.
- Reading time of the complete text: about 6 hours
- Reading time of the summarized text: 21 minutes
