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James Joyce, one of the most studied and influential writers of the 20th century, submits a chronology of Dublin's poorer class in 15 intense stories paired up on parallel subjects: adolescent life, sporting life, artistic life, political life, religious life. The Dublin that Joyce portrays is a tarnished and squalid background against which he positions individual experiences subtly reawakening themes common to everyone. Even though the city fosters death and disease, these focused tales invigorate the possibility of a more precious day-to-day life which is most often seen as meaningless, empty, and repulsive. Human nature, in Joyce's observation, finds it difficult to deal with failure and incompetent to face fear or loss. The short story "The Dead" is regarded as a masterpiece of the form. Written almost a hundred years ago, these accounts leave an impression of timelessness in man's search for happiness and fulfillment. Please Note: This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.
