5 posts found
Antarctica is Claire Keegan’s first collection of short stories. I separate these very well-written stories into the following categories: dark, sad or scary. Many stories take place during the winter months or have some aspect of cold about them. Most stories deal with marginalized families or persons, mostly poor and rural. I read all of the stories twice.
Read more →
“Clay” is one of the short stories found in Joyce’s collection The Dubliners . In “Clay” Joyce captures multiple levels of class and religious stratification along with alcoholism and hidden cruelties enmeshed in the culture in a handful of pages with incredible economy. Our protagonist, Maria, a servant working at Dublin by Lamplight Laundry, The laundry work reminded me of Small Things Like These , but with Protestants running the business. We learn that prior to her job at the...
Read more →
In Small Things Like These , it is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. (Publisher)
Read more →
Molloy is the first of three novels initially written in Paris between 1947 and 1950; this trio, which includes Malone Dies and The Unnamable, is collectively referred to as ‘The Trilogy’ or ‘the Beckett Trilogy.’ Beckett deliberately wrote all three books in French and then, aside from some collaborative work on Molloy with Patrick Bowles, served entirely as his own English-language translator; he did the same for most of his plays. As Paul Auster explains, “Beckett’s renderings of his own...
Read more →
“The Dead” is a short story written by James Joyce in 1914 as the final story in his collection Dubliners. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest short stories in the English language. Set in early 20th-century Dublin during a Christmas party, the story explores themes of mortality, memory, and the complexities of human relationships. The narrative centers around Gabriel Conroy, a university professor, and his wife, Gretta. The story unfolds as they attend an annual gathering hosted...
Read more →