Experience James Joyce’s Dubliners alongside John Banville. Ireland’s most famous contemporary novelist is here to connect you more deeply to Ireland’s most influential 20th century author, only on Rebind.

At the end of his life, James Joyce was rumored to have been visited by an old school friend. The friend reportedly said, “Jimmy, I tried to read your books—Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake—I’m sure they’re masterpieces, but I think your best book is Dubliners.” Joyce is said to have replied, “You know what? I think you’re right.”

John Banville recounted this anecdote, saying it speaks to the book’s special place in Joyce’s body of work.

“I first read Dubliners when I was about 12 or 13,” Banville recollects. “My sister gave it to me and said, ‘You should read this.’ And she was right. I was astonished to find that literature could be about life as I knew it. These stories are immediate. They are about the real world. Each story is as enlightening about the world now as it was when it was written.”


SNEAK PEEK

Here are some questions Banville will explore with you as you read Dubliners:

• How do you see the story of “Araby,” its plot, and its characters reflecting the nature of young love with all its pitfalls and little tragedies? Do you think the story reflects the nature of heroism in Joyce’s time? What about in our own time?

• “Eveline” is a story about the profound difficulty of freedom. How does the story highlight the anxiety that accompanies liberty? How does this make you feel about your own willingness to explore the possibilities of life?
  
  

Experience Rebind’s Dubliners today to interact with 20+ hours of John Banville’s commentary, and explore the meaning deep inside each of James Joyce’s classic short stories.