In short stories, poems, and monumental novels, James Joyce set out to discover the meaning of his nationality, simultaneously celebrating and ridiculing the history of Ireland in the brilliant style that has made him the most towering figure in the literary landscape of the early twentieth century. Among Joyce’s many gifts, perhaps the most stellar is his unerring capacity for impeccably placing the private reflections and inner torments of his characters within the epic context of myth and history, as well as the microcosm of fin de siècle Dublin. In these short stories from Dubliners and selections from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Chamber Music, aesthetic and alienated sensibilities suffer and survive the paralysis and stifling conventions of everyday life and family. In these tender yet uncompromising portraits, so much more accessible than Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake, the affection and understanding of the artist for his fellow countrymen and for the city and culture that both define and hold them captive cast a luminous glow.