Crowe Street appears in “Grace” as the location of Tom Kernan’s office: “Modern business methods had spared him only so far as to allow him a little office in Crowe Street, on the window blind of which was written the name of his firm with the address–London, E. C.” (154). The street is labeled as “Crow” […]
Tag: grace
Glasnevin Road
Perfectly fitting to the ambiguity of place and movement in the story, the reference to “the Glasnevin road” at the opening of “Grace” is as curiously nonspecific as it is ripe with possibilities: “The car halted before a small house on the Glasnevin road and Mr Kernan was helped into the house” (154). Not itself the […]
London
Note: The following text is that of the author’s presentation at the XXV James Joyce Symposium held in London in June 2016. The original, shorter London entry can be found here. Across the Water: Economic and Political Implications of the Dubliners London References Dubliners, the work through which Joyce initially sought to “betray the soul of […]
Westmoreland Street
Mentioned in three of the Dubliners stories, Westmoreland Street is located in Dublin city center. It runs from O’Connell Bridge in the north to its intersection with Grafton and Dame Streets and Trinity College gates in the south. It was built as part of the Wide Streets Commissioners’ “bold geometric plan” to “link … the new N[orth]-S[outh] artery […]
Dublin Castle
The city of Dublin has a long history, but perhaps its oldest structures and remnants are in the area of Dublin Castle, south of the Liffey. A site rich with connotations of power and politics, it’s no surprise that one of the Dubliners stories that references the Castle is “Ivy Day in the Committee Room.” […]
London
Referenced in six stories, London consistently carries connotations of economic dependence or opportunity for the Dubliners who were, at the dawn of the twentieth century, experiencing rather dismal prospects in the marketplace. In fact, much of the paralysis depicted in the collection stems from characters’ vocational or financial challenges. As Joseph Kelly very clearly puts […]
Grafton Street
Grafton Street in Dublin today is a chic, bustling shopping lane. In the time of James Joyce, it was, as Don Gifford describes, “a street of…fashionable shops” (54). Apparently, it has sustained its air of lively, happening nowness over the century and continues to be an energetic place to stroll. And stroll do the many characters […]
Belfast
Belfast, now the capital of Northern Ireland, was in Joyce’s day an industrial center that generally, partly because its population depended on its industry, opposed Home Rule. In Dubliners, the city appears in three stories: “Eveline,” “Clay,” and “Grace.” That the adolescence, maturity, and public life sections all reference Belfast, while the childhood section omits […]
Star of the Sea Church
This week’s featured place, The Star of the Sea Church, appears in “Grace” as the place where the Kernans were married: “In her days of courtship, Mr. Kernan had seemed to her a not ungallant figure: and she still hurried to the chapel door whenever a wedding was reported and, seeing the bridal pair, recalled […]
Gardiner Street
This week’s featured geographical reference is Gardiner Street. The street appears twice in Dubliners: once in “An Encounter” and once in “Grace.” In both cases, the reference is associated with a church located there: “An Encounter:” “His parents went to eight o’clock mass every morning in Gardiner Street and the peaceful odour of Mrs. Dillon […]