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Title: James Joyce's Dubliners: An Illustrated Edition With Annotations by James Joyce, John Wyse Jackson, Bernard McGinley ISBN: 0-312-11779-5 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A 20th Century Masterpiece
Comment: James Joyce's "Dubliners" is a shining example of the beautifully expressive power of the English language. The book offers a compilation of short stories, each as intriguing and captivating as those that precede and follow.

To truly enjoy the remarkable magnificence of this book, it is important to first recognize the three key aspects of each story: symbolism, imagery, and character development. The first of which to be examined is the most vital, as each story of the book is enveloped and completely built upon Joyce's deep and profound symbolism, with each character also defined by the same.

We can first look upon the title character of "Eveline," for whom the lattice-work of a window represents the bars of her prison-cell, and the fading streetlights beyond depict the hope of her life dissipating in the darkness of ever-encroaching night.

Easy to recognize, the symbolism of "Dubliners" is amazingly proficient in its ability to provide a deeper insight and understanding that truly does raise this book above the stature of its otherwise common stories. Joyce's masterful use of this literary technique is then placed within simple linguistic structures that are easily identified, yet powerful and splendidly thought provoking in its very core and concept, as well as by the nature in which it is employed. The careful explication of, and adequate attention give to this symbolism is very relevant, as it is essential in achieving a greater appreciation of each story being told, the characters portrayed within, and of Joyce to entertain with each.

Wild and vivid imagery frames the story through the author's immense, yet extremely enjoyable descriptive nature. A majority of each story's progression takes place between the dialogue, which is sparse to say the least, giving ample opportunity for Joyce's spectacular, though usually dark and gloomy imagery. It is also within this narrative that the characters spring to life. Being depicted as ordinary people suffering internal conflicts, they are tightly bound to the reader through relative and universal experiences. Eloquent and poignant examples of this can be found in the title characters of both "Eveline," and "Araby."

The central characters of "Dubliners," at first glance, appear quite flat, as seen in their dialogue. But upon closer inspection, the depth of Joyce's imaginative narrative bring them round, and fully-developed. Each of these characters, in their own respective way, is brilliantly constructed through elaborate thoughts and feelings, which, ironically, display the faults, failures, and weaknesses that they bring into their personal struggles. This appears to be Joyce's unique and quite genius way of building to climax, in which the audience is forced to believe in the strength and courage of characters of which we already know them to be deficient. It is, therefore, a cleverly devised surprise when they remain weak-willed, and are lead into despair, even though this path has been clearly laid out from beginning to end. Correlations can then be drawn between these characters, and the settings of the stories in which they appear. Being the same throughout, his setting is the Irish city of Dublin, which Joyce goes out of his way to portray as bereft of light, warmth, and color.

Though Joyce's obvious theme and intent was the portrayal of the internal conflicts of common people, this subject does become redundant when replicated throughout all stories of the book, offering the one real drawback of "Dubliners."

Overall, Joyce's simplistic use of language is evocative, as it conveys complex ideas in very simple words, making it an easy read for even the least literary-minded of readers. The thought and story progression is virtually flawless, being laid out in a proper and unmistakeable order that can be widely enjoyed for both its surface-value, and its underlying literary techniques. The philosophical themes are relative to virtually anyone, making this a book well worth spending time on.

Rating: 5
Summary: "Dawn of the Living Dead"
Comment: (My only complete reading of Dubliners was from this version.)

1. What makes Dubliners so amenable to an annotated edition is that it is essentially an immediately accessible work of fiction - Joyce's only one, (the Portrait's a little trickier).

The multiple place and character references make up a significant portion of the narratives - lose these settings, and you're not left with the virtuoso, stand-alone subtle psychological complexities of either the Portrait or Ulysses to gnaw on.

2. Is it "Margaret Mary Allicott"? I forget the spelling. Apologies. A reference is made to her in Dubliners... Buck Mulligan refers to her in Ulysses as "Margaret Mary ANYcock".

Without annotations, what can you make of that? Who was she?

The annotated Dubliners points out that MMA was a figure of considerable religious veneration in Dublin at the time. Icons of her were to be found in many homes. She would drink only dirty washwater, and ate only the pus from her numerous sores:

Neglecting the body = Sanctity = turn of the century Dublin morality [! ]

The annotations permit you to enjoy not only the bizarre character of the Zeitgeist, but also appreciate the Buck's nasty pun.

3. My point here is that you can only appreciate these sorts of references WITH annotations. And you can easily imagine that the instances are numerous.

The pictures & annotations are not "a key"; rather they breathe life into a good collection of early Joycean tales.

4. A fun copy. And remember, these stories were originally read by people who DID understand the references and allusions.

The only readable version of Dubliners and heartily commended to all wishing to enjoy and appreciate these heartwarming yarns of a city's moral and psychological twilight: paralysis, disillusionment, and collapse.

Survey sez: "Marvellous".

Rating: 5
Summary: A great book and wonderful treasure
Comment: The voluminous notes gave me a richer understanding of this work. The book is beautfully laid out and much easier to read than other "annotated" books. I wish the author's would tackle ULYSSES next.