Poetry meets the desolate: James Joyce in October

Dubliners by James Joyce

8 PM Tuesday October 10, 17, 24, 31

8 PM Thursday October 12, 19, 26, November 2

4 weeks/750 RMB

While I am happy to offer something new every time I open a new class, there are some stories and writers I periodically return to. Most of them happen to be Irish storytellers, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, and of course, James Joyce. There’s something about their voice, poetry meets the desolate but not without hope, that resonates with me as a person and as a writer. 

But James Joyce is more than a storyteller. He is a writer who changed the course of literature, the modern novel, and how a writer could use narrative perspectives. He wrote some of the most experimental, innovative, daring, complicated, and difficult works of the 20th century. And no, of course, I couldn’t make it far into Finnegan’s Wake, but among Joyce’s books, Dubliners has been one of my all-time favorites. It is, for me, both a literary refuge and a writing class. 

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen linked stories, whose protagonists grow with every story. Joyce was no longer in Dublin when he wrote the stories, so he wrote many letters to fact-check his settings. He wanted to recreate the city down to its last detail. I imagine him pestering his friends with dozens of letters, asking if the same shops still line up the same street, if their windows showcase the same goods, if their awnings have faded, if their owners have aged. 

He didn’t have to do this type of inquiry when it came to creating characters at different ages and stages of their lives. Like a psychologist, he was able to reach the deepest fears and yearnings of every person—child or parent, young or old, male or female, rich or poor—he touched. Like a poet, he was able to bend language to say what’s until then unsayable, show what was hidden in the silences, and bring honest emotion to every scene he penned. Dubliners is a masterclass in employing the five senses, writing sensory details, and using figurative language that’s never decorative, but always alive.

I feel so lucky that you wanted me to reteach this gem. If we didn’t know each other in 2020, or if we didn’t get to read and study Dubliners together, join me now. Dubliners by James Joyce is a 4-week reading and writing class. We will start on October 10th with Tuesday and Thursday sections. Class capacity is limited. You may sign up for classes by scanning the QR codes in the poster or at the end of this post.

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