There are 15 short stories by James Joyce in Dubliners and they were written during Irish nationalism reached its peak. First published as a single book in 1914, those stories were intended to be a naturalistic illustration of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
At that time, there was a raging search for a national identity and purpose. Ireland was at a crossroads of history and culture, jolted by various converging ideas and influences. The first three stories in "Dubliners" might be incidents from a draft of "Portrait of the Artist," and many of the characters who figure in "Ulysses" have their first appearance here, but this is not a book of interest only because of its relationship to Joyce's life and mature work. It is one of the greatest story collections in the English language—an unflinching, brilliant, often tragic portrait of early twentieth-century Dublin. The book, which begins and ends with a death, moves from "stories of my childhood" through tales of public life. Its larger purpose, Joyce said, was as a moral history of Ireland.
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