dubliners

As little r pointed out.. no posts for awhile. On my part, that's because I finished Dubliners on Thurs. and never got a chance to sit down and write about it until now (this being my first day off in a week).

Having had such problems getting through Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales I was dismayed to find my next selection, Dubliners, a series of short stories as well. I got through this one in about a week, which was good.

(note, I'm basically going to be comparing Irving and Joyce in this post.. if you need to see my reasons about why I can't comment on short stories, see my post about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales)

I believe that Joyce did a better job of creating a coherent whole out of disjointed stories. Whereas Irving was trying to create sketches in time, Joyce was trying to create a portrait of a people. Irving's stories seemed to largely be disjointed, focusing on separate instances / people and capturing them in that moment. He was not trying to paint a portrait of a collective people like Joyce, rather a portrait of experiences. Irving focuses largely on specific incidents: sometimes melancholy, sometimes supernatural.

Just like Irving, Joyce does a wonderful job of describing people and their habits, but unlike Irving he is able to connect all of his characters under the umbrella that they're all "Dubliners." This is how he connects each of his stories to the next, allowing his characters to relate to each other through their shared heritage, culture, and interests. I think this is largely what makes me feel like Joyce was able to connect his stories in a better way to each other.

Does this make it better than Irving? Not necessarily. There are some things I really loved about Irving's supernatural stories, or the ones that really got close to the human condition (the Widow and Her Son). By the same token, there are some things about Joyce's stories that I would elevate above Irving.

That having been said, I am starting Kerouac's On the Road today, and really really looking forward to it. I had to have a short break to read the finale to a series I've been reading for 5ish years now, though. Finished it last night, so I'm all ready for my next classic! :)