Grace

by James Joyce

Grace is a short story by the Irish writer James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners.

The story begins with an unconscious man who has fallen down the stairs in a pub after heavy drinking. A friend of his, Mr. Power, finds him, reveals him to be named Tom Kernan, and takes him home to his wife.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, 20th Century, Ireland

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and a pivotal figure in 20th-century modernist literature, renowned for his highly experimental approach to language and narrative structure, particularly his pioneering mastery and popularization of the stream-of-consciousness technique. Born into a middle-class Catholic family in the Rathgar suburb of Dublin in 1882, Joyce spent the majority of his adult life in self-imposed exile across continental Europe—living in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris—yet his entire, meticulous body of work remained obsessively and comprehensively focused on the minutiae of his native city, making Dublin both the meticulously detailed setting and a central, inescapable character in his literary universe. His work is consistently characterized by its technical complexity, rich literary allusion, intricate symbolism, and an unflinching examination of the spectrum of human consciousness. Joyce began his published career with Dubliners (1914), a collection of fifteen short stories offering a naturalistic, often stark, depiction of middle-class Irish life and the moral and spiritual paralysis he observed in its inhabitants, concluding each story with a moment of crucial, sudden self-understanding he termed an "epiphany." This collection was followed by the highly autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a Bildungsroman that meticulously chronicled the intellectual and artistic awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who would become Joyce's recurring alter ego and intellectual stand-in throughout his major works.
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening: Two gentlemen who were in the lavatory at the time tried to lift him up: but he was quite helpless. He lay curled up at the foot of the stairs down which he had fallen. They succeeded in turning him over. His hat had rolled a few yards away and his clothes were smeared with the filth and ooze of the floor on which he had lain, face downwards. His eyes were closed and he breathed with a grunting noise. A thin stream of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

A re-visit via the Berfrois site: Read here, one of the stories from Dubliners.

[Federico DN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible.

Not worth reviewing.

For the moment at least.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1914] [15p] [Classics] [0] [EXTREMELY Not Recommendable]
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Horrible.

No vale la pena reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1914] [15p] [Clásicos] [0] [EXTREMADAMENTE No Recomendable]
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[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man has fallen down the stairs to the toilets at the pub. He was drunk, and his companions have disappeared.

Acquaintances help him up out of the filth and take him home to his long-suffering wife: her "faith was bounded by her kitchen but, if she was put to it, she could believe also in the banshee and in the Holy Ghost."

In the short story "Grace" James Joyce tackles intertwined themes of religion and alcoholism—two topics in Ireland which must either be celebrated or tiptoed around. Drinking cultures do not enjoy being confronted with stories of families ruined by drink. Nor do Catholics condone common folk sitting around mocking the notion of the Pope being infallible.

More than one hundred years later, the controversial nature of these early stories seems muffled, but Joyce did have to walk a fine line to reflect his culture without outraging the powers-that-be in Irish society. Even a statement such as this, supposedly from a priest discussing Protestants and Catholics, would be dangerously controversial in Ireland:

We worship at different altars, he said, but our belief is the same.

Rounded up to 5 stars, because why not? I will set right my accounts.

[misael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Não memorável.

[Andrei Vasilachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the funniest story from Dubliners.

Three men help a drunkard get up to his feet and promise his wife to "make a new man of him", alluding to easing him into the Catholic way of life. They get together at his house, drink lots of whisky and talk incessantly about the history of the Church in Ireland by constantly misquoting and confusing things or, in other words, having a "jolly" time together. Then they go to something akin to a sermon — "a kind of a friendly talk, you know, in a common-sense way" — "to wash the pot" (confess) all whilst trying not to make dumb jokes and act serious.

What can be better than a bunch of Irish lads having drinks and speaking in slang and misquoting things with the utmost confidence? I believe not many things can compete with that and I laughed quite a few times during the first read. The notes by Terence Brown were very helpful and the constant correction of the "Dublin Church historians" made me chuckle.

Joyce at his best.

P.S. You can read it here: http://www.online-literature.com/jame... - I'd recommend finding a physical copy with notes though, there's lots of Irish slang and church references you probably won't get (I didn't without the notes).

[Evoli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not notice the grace in your story, James. May you please excuse me.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have arranged my thoughts on this short story into a haiku:

"A 'friend's' helping hand,
Dressed up in misused factoids,
Spreads conformity."

[Big Hard Books & Classics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Join us: #Dubliners2019 <= on YouTube!

[Anatoly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story "Grace" by James Joyce is difficult for reading. The main idea of the story is not obvious, the story includes a lot of dialogs referring to religion and historical debates in Ireland. It was written in the style of "what I see - I write", the author described life around including details which it seemed not important for text in whole.

The plot as I understood (the others would make a different interpretation) about one person, Mr. Kernan, who was found wounded on the street after being drunk, his tongue was hurt. His friend carried him to his home. James Joyce included in the text a lot of details such as a description of strangers, small talk with the members of Mr. Kerman family. The author mentioned that the main character went down during last years probably because of his bad habits (alcoholism).

After few days his friends visited Mr. Kerman and he witnessed their discussion about Dubliners, religion, philosophy, relationships in society etc. Eventually, they decided to go to the church to listen to messa. The friends of Mr. Kerman convinced him to apply for a church for the purpose to abandon his bad habits.

I got an impression that the name of the collection of the short stories "Dubliners" connected with the text more than the title "Grace". The large part of the story dedicated to the depiction of style of life there. After attentive reading of the story, imagination draws the full-screen picture of Dubliners: they are supportive, religious, they like to have philosophical debates. It has something in common with the story that tourists tell about Irishmen: they would not have to dwell but they have a book “Ulysses” in the pocket (Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce).

Here are some links for the text and other resources about this story:

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/joyc...

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au

https://prezi.com/m9v6ug4uuvnd/dublin...

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace by James Joyce
Excellent story

Whenever I read James Joyce it is with mixed feelings.
I enjoy the story, because I limit myself to what I can take in.
There is a frustration caused by the inability to handle Ulysses, which is considered by many scholars the best work of the twentieth century- at least.
So there is a regret that I have -combined with a feeling of gratitude for whatever I have- when I acknowledge that a great chef d’oeuvre is beyond my reach.
Of course, with astuteness, grit and determination, that work could be read…in my case it might only take three or four years.
But I find that I cannot concentrate and my mind wonders whenever the complex, cryptic-for this reader- writing becomes too demanding.
Fortunately, the Dubliners short stories are available and even I can dig those.
The latest that I have finished today is Grace and I will only have The Dead to complete, which presents a quandary.
The Dead may well be the end of my incursion into the literature of James Joyce, unless I read again The Portrait of the Artist.
And of course, I can always bet on the off chance that reading more I will become better equipped to handle even Ulysses.
- Insha’Allah
Grace starts with a man that has a little accident that at first glance appears to have been more serious than it was.
He had a bit too much to drink and if I got it right, his wife is not just resigned, but feels it is somewhat appropriate that the husband suffers.
Come to think of it, if you become inebriated on a regular basis, what would you expect other than a serious condition.
The friends of the man try to find a way out and to cure him of excess, not of drinking because it appears they all drink in Ireland, at that time.
The interesting part came when the discussion refers to religion, Catholics, Jesuits and the popes, who are treated with some reverence and humor.
It is admitted that a number of popes have been no good and they have committed dreadful acts, with a caveat.
- Even the most dreadful popes have been right in their teachings and –if I do not have this terribly wrong- in an official capacity
“Conditions for teachings being declared infallible. Statements by a pope that exercise papal infallibility are referred to as solemn papal definitions or ex cathedra”
This statement was news for me.
And after reading about it in the short story, I googled it- what else? - And found that there is such a thing as papal infallibility.
In the first place I thought that it may be idle talk, literary license and one of the author’s habits of presuming his readers have done all their homework, reading the classics, knowing the Greek tragedies and pretty much everything a well-educated person has to know- or hasn’t she/he?
It is odd to talk about papal excellence in the light of the child abuse scandals involving so many priests and prelates, highlighted in the Oscar nominated and award winning Spotlight.
The points on the Jesuits are also interesting and it might be true that although they have not reformed in the least (?), this order has been having plenty of success and clout thorough the centuries.

This is a very good, entertaining and in this particular case- most important- accessible James Joyce work.

[Ru · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

Honestly, not the best final choice of story for Dubliners, as I read them out of order and Grace ended up being last.

Of all the stories, I understood this one the least. I found the first half to be quite entertaining and interesting but it sort of really lost momentum with all the religious stuff.

I understand the tale confronts two very prominent Irish topics- alcohol and religion, but nothing about the handling and conclusion of said topics were anything of interest.

I don't have much else to say on this one, unfortunately.

[Nolan Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“But one thing only, he said, he would ask of his hearers. And that was: to be straight and manly with God. If their accounts tallied in every point to say:

“Well, I have verified my accounts. I find all well.”

But if, as might happen, there were some discrepancies, to admit the truth, to be frank and say like a man:

“Well, I have looked into my accounts. I find this wrong and this wrong. But, with God’s grace, I will rectify this. I will set right my accounts.”

[Iris Gozadinou · Rating 3 out of 5]

(14/15 i Dubliners)
Kunne fort gitt denne 4 stjerner, men det ble litt mye dialog som var slitsom å henge med på. Mye fotnoter også her. Men denne synes jeg var litt morsom, fotnotene forklarte en del som jeg ikke ville catcha, i dialogen hadde de mye feilinformasjon og dårlig quota greier, som la til en del til den synes jeg. Men det ble altså litt tungt med all dialogen.

[Alyoshalovesart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with comical brilliance, the story is as digestible as Protestantism, and yet stodgy and non-digestible as Catholicism. Joyce is able with a descending plume to create such a lively conversation with drunks. Timely!!

[Vanita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit, I just don't get Joyce.
There's a secondary text at the end, and even there I only understand some parts...

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A melancholy account of what now might be called a failed intervention to an alcoholic.

[William Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memorable snapshot of alcoholism and religion in an fraile Irish pairing.

[Izzie Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly not my favourite; nevertheless i stand by the stars and i find his writing to be simply beautiful.

[TopBob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool stuff! Interesting themes, but nothing I personally care deeply about. Fun analysis, characters, and the ending was wacky too

[fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

fourteenth story of the Dubliners

爱尔兰恒久不变的话题：宗教、酗酒

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of drunks try to change their alcholic friend by comverting him into a christian by misquoting facts and getting drunk then going to church intresting enough read