It's been over fifteen years since I've read Dubliners, but "The Dead" is one of the stories that becomes part of you after you've read it. I'm a huge James Joyce fan and I place The Dead right behind Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist and Stephen Hero in my list of favourites. To me, Gabriel is such a cartoon - in the same sense that I view myself as a cartoon in certain moments of dissociation. He's so easy to relate to. He wanders around a party and tries to plug in here and there. He wants to be useful. Like many people at a party, he answers the inner spirit's invitation to become sentimental and by the end he's horny. I got the impression there was a loneliness he carried with him even before his wife shatters his idealized view of her and talks in ridiculous fashion about a past love. It's one of those stories that takes a lifetime to digest, which I think is why it's mentioned as one of the best examples of literature out there.

Thank you for that comment on the story. You really said a lot about it in a short space. I like the way you brought out a serio-comic quality that I hadn't picked up on. It's funny, I wouldn't have called Gretta's reminiscences ridiculous before watching John Huston's film. In that, the scene did seem over the top to me.

Saffron wrote:

geo wrote:http://wnca.org/paddle/

Very cool! Mid July will work well for me also, as I will be on the beach in Spain from late June until the first week of July! Let's pick a day during the week of 7/7-13 and a time in the evening (unless it is a Sat or Sun) to be on BT at the same time to kick off the discussion. Right now I am thinking that a Sunday might be easiest for everyone.

Hey and hello! Is anyone still interested in Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man? I plan to start reading by this weekend and would be interested in discussion in about a month.

Saffron wrote:

Saffron wrote:

geo wrote:http://wnca.org/paddle/

Very cool! Mid July will work well for me also, as I will be on the beach in Spain from late June until the first week of July! Let's pick a day during the week of 7/7-13 and a time in the evening (unless it is a Sat or Sun) to be on BT at the same time to kick off the discussion. Right now I am thinking that a Sunday might be easiest for everyone.

Hey and hello! Is anyone still interested in Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man? I plan to start reading by this weekend and would be interested in discussion in about a month.

I'm about to start reading it too. Turns out I'm not going to go on the 9-day kayak, so we could start discussing it whenever.

geo wrote:


Hey and hello! Is anyone still interested in Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man? I plan to start reading by this weekend and would be interested in discussion in about a month.

I'm about to start reading it too. Turns out I'm not going to go on the 9-day kayak, so we could start discussing it whenever.[/quote]

I am still going to Spain, so can we start the discussion after the first week of July - I'd hate to miss any of it.

As a descendant of the Irish, this book meant a great deal to me. My own grandparents had many stories.

I am going to ask Chris to set us up a thread for Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man. How about we set a day and time next week to all be online to begin the discussion? Anyone out there still interested?

When I first came across the works of James Joyce, I was very unimpressed. Fifty pages of "Ullysses" was more than enough for me and "Finnegan's Wake" was thrown aside after a cursery glance, not to be revisited in this world and only fit for punishment in the next. "Dubliners" was much more my taste and I read it all through. I can't, at this distance in time, remember all the stories, but the one that is the subject of this thread, will forever stay in my mind and will be a favourite of mine well into the future. The story of a family divided by the politics of pre-independence Ireland reminds me of my parents generation, who also split apart, because of the civil war that followed the granting of independence, to that volatile celtic nation. "The Dead" is a tale that I have not read for nearly forty years now. The time to revisit it is overdue. Thanks for the reminder.

Saffron wrote:I am going to ask Chris to set us up a thread for Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man. How about we set a day and time next week to all be online to begin the discussion? Anyone out there still interested?

Hi Saffron,

I want to join in, but I haven't started the book yet. I'm also balancing a couple of projects right now. I'll be sure to join in at some point (perhaps in August). Sorry to be so iffy.