Episode Sixteen - In this Part 2 of our discussion of the Dead, we see Gabriel’s mood improve as he slips into familiar roles. Will this improvement last the course of the evening? And will a journey westward release Gabriel from his paralysis?

#gotjoyce

Read the story Online:

The Dead

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Episode Fifteen - The Dead is more of a Novella than a short story so we've decided to take two episodes to discuss it. In Part 1 Gabriel goes to the party, but he doesn't have a very good time. Is he a West Briton out of place in Ireland, or is it something else? And what does his behaviour say about his marriage to Greta?

#gotjoyce

Read the story Online:

The Dead

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Episode Fourteen - Grace is three act story closely paralleling Dante’s Divine Comedy and follows Mr. Kernan’s physical and spiritual journey from the filth and ooze of the lavatory floor to the Jesuit Church on Gardiner Street. But what kind of “Grace” will Mr. Kernan earn?

#gotjoyce

Read the story Online:

Grace

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Episode Thirteen - A Mother gives us Dubliners' third female protagonist in Mrs. Kearney. Caught up in the national cultural movements of the time, she helps organize a concert in which her daughter will sing. When things don't go her way, we see tensions rise between her and "the committee", each claiming the other is in the wrong. Whose side are you on?

#gotjoyce

Read the story Online:

A Mother

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Critical Essays referenced:

"O, She's a Nice Lady!": A Rereading of "A Mother"

Robert Emmet’s Rising of 1803 and the Bold Mrs. Kearney

Episode Twelve - Ivy Day in the Committee Room is Joyce's story on the state of politics in Ireland. On the anniversary of the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, canvassers in a Dublin by-election take shelter from the rain inside a committee room. Between many comings and goings they discuss politics, children, and how to open a bottle when you don't have a corkscrew. Their answers to those questions reveal more about society than they realise.

#gotjoyce

Read the story Online:

Ivy Day in the Committee Room

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Episode Eleven - A Painful Case brings us through the life of one of the few Dubliners’ characters who seems to see the city in the same way Joyce does. All of this is thrown into sharp relief when Mr. Duffy meets Mrs. Sinico. Will this relationship offer redemption for Mr Duffy and who is the subject of this painful case?

#gotjoyce

Read A Painful Case Online:

A Painful Case

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Clay, at its core, is an examination of rituals from the perspective of Dubliners who are too paralysed to recognise them or their role in perpetuating them. Maria is one of the most sympathetic characters in the collection but is her naivety genuine or a learned behaviour developed to survive Joyce’s Dublin?

#gotjoyce

Read Clay Online:

Clay

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Counterparts shows us a truly Jocyean examination of drinking culture within Dublin City and in particular amongst its male working class. Following a day in the life of Farrington offers a thrilling and ultimately gut-wrenching insight into an emotionally paralysed man’s inner life. Will he earn our sympathy or disgust?

#gotjoyce

Read Counterparts Online:

Counterparts

Intro Music:

Galway Session

The following essay was invaluable during our research for this episode:

Farrington, the Scrivener, Revisited: ‘Counterparts.’ - Margot Norris

In this episode we explore some of Joyce's early life as he was writing the stories of Dubliners and consider the many ways in which key moments in his life are mirrored in this story. A Little Cloud gives us a look into the life of a seemingly happy man, until the return of a former companion to Dublin forces Little Chandler to reckon with his own life choices and asks the question is Dublin too malign a city to ever truly escape from?

#gotjoyce

Read A Little Cloud Online:

A Little Cloud

Intro Music:

Galway Session

This month we look at how marriage and divorce worked in Ireland around 1900 before analyzing "The Boarding House", a story about two young people at the start of a relationship. Are they lovers destined for each other or just two strangers pushed together by circumstance? And what will happen when the girls mother, the owner of the boarding house, gets involved?

#gotjoyce

Read The Boarding House Online:

The Boarding House

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Two Gallants tells the story of two men progressing through the streets of Dublin but ultimately going nowhere. Packed with religious and knightly imagery, this is simultaneously one of the most whimsical and disconcerting stories in the collection. What are these men’s intentions and “did it come off?”

#gotjoyce

Read Two Gallants Online:

Two Gallants

Intro Music:

Galway Session

After The Race places us firmly in the adult section of Dubliners and follows youthful Jimmy Doyle and his international cadre as they spend the day and night in Dublin, eating, drinking and generally being merry, but what do Jimmy’s companions really see in Jimmy?

#gotjoyce

Read After The Race online:

After The Race

The following essay was invaluable during our research for this episode:

Big-Power Politics and Colonial Economics: The Gordon Bennett Cup Race and "After the Race" - James Fairhall

Intro Music:

Galway Session

Eveline shows us our heroine as she prepares to leave Ireland and thinks about all that she will leave behind. The life she will leave is a difficult one, a small one, and one where any day violence could break out. She wants to escape, but when she arrives at the port and prepares to board the ship she's no longer sure it's the right thing to do.

#gotjoyce

Read Eveline online:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm#chap04

Read Valparaiso/The Ship online:

https://ireland-calling.com/valparaiso/

Intro Music:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GalwaySession1.ogg

Araby is the final story in the “childhood” segment of the collection and once again follows the adventures of a young boy on the cusp of puberty overcoming a series of obstacles to make it to the Arab Market or Araby, acquire a trinket and win the heart of Mangan’s sister, but what he gets from the market is not what he expected.

#gotjoyce

Read Araby online:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm#chap03

Intro Music:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GalwaySession1.ogg

An Encounter sees a group of boys skipping school for the day and charts their progress across the city of Dublin. Their encounter with a “queer old josser” gives the story’s protagonist a new insight into his relationships with his friends and a deeper understanding of himself.

#gotjoyce

Read An Encounter Online:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm#chap02

Intro Music:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GalwaySession1.ogg

The Sisters follows the journey of a young boy dealing with the death of the local priest with whom he had developed a close personal relationship, however in true Joycean fashion, not all is as it initially seems either in the relationship between the boy and priest or the exact circumstances of the priest’s life and death.

#gotjoyce

Read The Sisters Online:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm#chap01

Intro Music:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GalwaySession1.ogg

A Podcast about Joyce's short story collection Dubliners, brought to you by two Dubliners, John Kilfeather and Lochlainn Coyne. Launching: 14th May 2022. Follow to keep informed!

#gotjoyce

Intro Music: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GalwaySession1.ogg