Status Updates From Dublineses

“A Mother”

This is some Dance Moms style shit where Machiavellian Mrs. Kearney torpedos her daughter’s burgeoning musical career over the eight guineas she was sort of promised for four concerts, holding the final, big night hostage not once but twice, bluff called on the second. Not only is her daughter’s reputation ruined, but hers as a middle-class lady is shot through even more so.

“Ivy Day in the Committee Room”

This piece sketches out political realities in Dublin and Ireland through a group of men who have been canvassing for an election and have now gathered up in their meeting room. The notes add tons of invaluable context regarding Parnell and subtleties which are lost to myself, an American reader some 120 years after this was written.

“A Painful Case”

Mr. Duffy, an intellectual, begins a sort of affair with a married woman, a friendship with an erotic undertone that he is loathe to cross out of his high-mindedness. When things go sour, Duffy undergoes an amazing transformation, from reviling his would-be mistress to being saturated with empathy for her as he finally senses his own profound loneliness.

“Clay”

A slice of life for a little Irish Catholic woman who works at a Protestant rescue mission. It’s a tidy existence that Maria seems comfortable with but you can see Joyce’s hints at the fraying of the edges. The climax is an Irish Halloween party (very different from what we think of) with a moment regarding the title that would glide on by if you weren’t familiar with the rules of the game.

“Counterparts”

Portrait of a drunk, a man who copes with his spiritual paralysis by drinking on the job (which he has been doing poorly at), binge drinking with his friends, and then beating his helpless children when he goes home in deference to his general impotence. You can almost feel for Farrington at first but as the day goes on you can see the depth of the rut that he’s in.

I do not like this 🫢

“I had never spoken to her except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.”