Dubliners, anyone?

Post-Bloomsday. Yesterday was Bloomsday, a day that commemorates James Joyce his book Ulysses and the main character in the book, Leopold Bloom.
A few things that went on this weekend for Bloomsday:
Irish Embassy in Washington
The closing of a bookshop and James Joyce readings
NYTimes recounts

Celebrating Bloomsday.
Source: http://theamerican.ie/dublin-roles-out-events-for-bloomsday/

I'd like to add my small three cents of celebration, plus I love his book of short stories Dubliners. Very much unlike the person who owned the book before me; I found a note that revealed the person's distaste for the book. 

Well, I love the book's gloomyness. It's painted with such fierce and unapologizing reality that is not for every reader. Although, the modern touches are all there, the despair, the loss of faith and hope, the loss of innocence. In the introduction to the book James Joyce writes (an excerpt from a letter): "I am writing a series of epiclets–ten–for a paper. I have written one. I call the series Dubliners to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city."* In another letter, "people might be willing to pay for the special odour of corruption which, I hope, floats over my stories."* The publication of Dubliners was a nine-year ordeal.* Many rejections followed this collection of short stories. Thankfully, not enough to deter it's appearance on the market. So here I am, talking about this gloomy book, one which I happen to really like. Instead of advocating everyone read the whole of Dubliners I will make a small list of my favorite stories, from there each reader can decide if reading the rest is worth their time. 

Here is the list, with links where they can be read:

Araby

Eveline

A Little Cloud

Clay

A Mother

The full Dubliners can be found here.

With a little time these short stories can be read fairly quick, and with a bit more time each one can be fully savored.

*From the Norton Critical Edition of Dubliners by James Joyce, edited by Margot Norris. 

Having contributed my three cents to Bloomsday I return to the running theme of this month, which is LGBT prose. I am still reading Making Gay History by Eric Marcus and for the next post, this week, I should be reviewing an essay, possibly by Gloria Anzaldua.