Dubliners (Naxos Edition)

By: James Joyce

Narrated by: Jim Norton

James Joyce's Dubliners is a collection of short stories about the lives of the people of Dublin around the turn of the century. Each story describes a small but significant moment of crisis or revelation in the life of a particular Dubliner, sympathetically but always with stark honesty. Many of the characters are desperate to escape the confines of their humdrum lives, though those that have the opportunity to do so seem unable to take it. This book holds none of the difficulties of Joyce's later novels, such as Ulysses, yet in its way it is just as radical. These stories introduce us to the city which fed Joyce's entire creative output, and to many of the characters who made it such a well of literary inspiration.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2004 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. (P)2004 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

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Nothing new to relate: excellent narrator, excellent text. If anything, I enjoyed the Naxos edition more than the text alone.

Some moving stories

I'm not often a fan of “great literature". By that I mean books that give professors of literature something complicated to fill a lecture or two with. This sort of book gives ordinary readers like myself a headache because the plot plays second fiddle to artistic technique. In this way, they're like modern art paintings. Without an expert's wordy explanation of why they're so great it's not apparent to the average person that they are in fact great. James Joyce is an author of this sort of “great literature”.

That said, I found some of the short stories in this collection poignant and worthwhile. I was genuinely moved by “Counterparts", “A Mother", “Eveline” and “The Dead”. I also enjoyed “An Encounter” and a few others. The author was able to be artistic and still tell some excellent (if perhaps depressing) stories. Full Disclosure: I had to do online research to better understand each of the stories.

My view on collections of short stories is that if there is one really great one in the bunch and/or two or three really good ones, they're worth the time and money. The Dubliners meets that standard with four excellent stories and a few more pretty good ones.

For once, I love the music

Typically, I dislike short stories because there's not enough character development and I never feel "vested" in the characters. I guess this is why Joyce is often considered the "best of the best". The stories are "small" and "every day" from a country and time far away and long ago but I was easily drawn in. I remember not liking Protrait when I had to read it in high school many years ago but with maturity- in years as well as appreciation, I will revisit.

Deep voice

good narrator, but he speaks too closely to the mic most of the time adding to proximity effect... = low resonance. good if the whole book was a movie trailer... hard to focus on subject and have to turn the volume up just to distinguish words when whispered.

What's with the interlude music?

Great book; well read and presented. However, the long and odd musical presentations between the chapters was annoying and unnecessary