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Article: Interactive stories in "Dubliners." (Special "Dubliners" Number)
- Article from:
- Studies in Short Fiction
- Article date:
- June 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Studies in Short Fiction. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In "The Boarding House" Bob Doran, fearing that his affair with Polly will become known, reflects that "Dublin is such a small city: everyone knows everyone else's business" (Dubliners 66). Most readers probably skip past this comment cheerfully enough, finding it commonplace; yet it seems on reflection quite false as an account of the community depicted in Dubliners. It's often striking how little the characters know of each other's business.
The tone and meaning of Dubliners owe much to the gap between what the characters know and what we know (or can discover). This discrepancy in turn depends on the hermetic confinement of the major characters to a single ...