“Dubliners” is a collection of fifteen short stories written by James Joyce in which the author analyses the failure of self-realisation of inhabitants of Dublin in biographical and in psychological ways. The novel was originally turned down by publishers because they considered it immoral for its portrait of the Irish city. Joyce treats in “Dubliners” the paralysis of will in four stages: childhood, youth, maturity and public life. The paralysis of will is the courage and self-knowledge that leads ordinary men and women to accept the limitations imposed by the social context they live in. In “Dubliners” the style is both realistic - to the degree of perfectly recreating characters and idioms of contemporary Dublin - and symbolic – giving the common object unforeseen depth and a new meaning in order to show a new view of reality. Joyce defines this effect “epiphany” which indicates that moment when a simple fact suddenly explodes with meaning and makes a person realise his / her condi...
Ten days after Mary’s birth, her mother died. So, Mary grew up in an intellectual household with her father’s famous friends and among Godwin’s ideals.
Here, in 1814 she met Percy Bysshe Shelley, a poet and an ardent admirer of her father.
Percy B. Shelley was an important poet of the Romantic movement and was already
married at the time.
For this reason, her father was against their relationship and tried to keep the two lovers apart.
Therefore, when she found out she was pregnant, they ran off to Europe, but they had to return home due to lack of money.
In this period, Mary wrote History of a six weeks: Tour through part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland.
Once home, though, Shelley had to go into hiding to avoid ending up in a debtor’s prison and left Mary alone.
In 1815, Mary gave birth prematurely to a baby, who died two weeks later.
Then, Percy received a large annual retribution and the couple moved into a house on Bishopsgate Heath.
After the suicide of Percy’s wife, in 1816 Mary married Percy.
Next, the couple settled in Geneva and met Lord Byron. Here, Mary wrote her first and famous Gothic novel Frankenstein (1816-17).
This literary genre was very famous during the second half of the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. Gothic novels, in general, are set in picturesque settings featuring castles, dungeons and darkness, chosen as the scene of terrible crimes which contribute to the suspense and fear pervading the whole novel.
They are characterized by a sinister, gloomy atmosphere and supernatural events, and their main characters are usually an evil and a mysterious man who persecutes a young and innocent girl. The other characters of this novel are wanderers and supernatural events.
In 1818, Mary and Percy moved to Italy, where she gave birth to Percy Florence.
In 1822, Mary’s husband drowned during a sailing trip from Leghorn to La Spezia.
A year later, Mary returned to England, where she devoted herself totally to the writing career, in order to raise her son.
In this period she wrote The Last Man, a story of the destruction of mankind by a plague until one man has survived.
She spent the last years in the disease, probably having a cerebral tumour.
For this reason, she died in 1851.
They are characterized by a sinister, gloomy atmosphere and supernatural events, and their main characters are usually an evil and a mysterious man who persecutes a young and innocent girl. The other characters of this novel are wanderers and supernatural events.
In 1818, Mary and Percy moved to Italy, where she gave birth to Percy Florence.
In 1822, Mary’s husband drowned during a sailing trip from Leghorn to La Spezia.
A year later, Mary returned to England, where she devoted herself totally to the writing career, in order to raise her son.
In this period she wrote The Last Man, a story of the destruction of mankind by a plague until one man has survived.
She spent the last years in the disease, probably having a cerebral tumour.
For this reason, she died in 1851.
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