The stories are quite simple I'd say. They're about real people in their time, each story (I haven't finished reading the book yet) is giving a different way of an everyday life in Dublin. In a way it is a book that could easily be written about any time in our history in any city of the world. The people and their lives, their joy or sorrow or luck and misadventures, it's the way it was then and not much have changed since. :) We are still skipping school for adventures, we're still falling in love as it was the first and the last time, we're still admiring or envious of our friends or strangers for their travels and search for a better life. And we still know families with misfortune, where there's alcoholism and violence as a part of everyday life.. These are the timeless themes that are part of every generation for as long as ...
So, the other day I was thinking of reading Dubliners in The National Gallery and guess what, I had a marvelous chance to see paintings and drawings with excerpts from the book itself! Lovely, I thought and went to see what's up. The exhibition is called James Joyce's 'Dubliners': The city as character, and you can admire works of artists like Jack B. Yeats, Walter Osborne, William Orpen etc. All works are about Dublin, scenes, views, streets, the people of Dublin and all of them have a short excerpt that in a way makes the picture alive (or the book, choose yourself! :) ). You look at it, read what's written about both the picture and how it is linked with a story in Dubliners, and suddenly feel like you're part of it - this would be my best attempt to explain the emotion one can get while there..
Though I hadn't finished reading all the stories I could still adapt and recognize some parts of it. It's lovely to be inside the stories, in a way at the exhibition you're getting even a better view of how it all looked like. Now, if you know the streets and places Joyce is telling stories about in the book, it makes it easier to paint a picture in your head. But if you're not familiar with Dublin - go see James Joyce's 'Dubliners': The city as character, you'll get a better idea!
Find out more here http://www.nationalgallery.ie/Home/Exhibitions/Dubliners_Exhibition.aspx
Enjoy Dublin(ers)! ;)