There is a danger in revisiting old friends not seen in over thirty years. The memory can play tricks on a body and the delicious times enjoyed in a carefree youth may not seem quite so delicious a lifetime on. The same can be applied to books and stories where it is easy to quote any number of favourites only to discover that such treasures were discovered in a different time and place and may not hold the same lure and attraction now as they did then.

This is certainly true as a person gets older. Reading James Joyce (1882-1941)'s seminal Dubliners in one's twenties is not the same as revisiting those same stories in ones fifties. Added to all this is a literary dimension given that this particular reviewer started a life of letters as a short-story writer and is now a card-carrying dramatist who often views 'the bits between the dialogue' as glorified stage directions.

Re-reading Joyce's Dubliners has to be done with due care. For anyone approaching Joyce, Dubliners is often seen as a starter for ten. The massive Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake are novels not for the faint-hearted, and the nearest this reviewer has got to tackling the former is seeing and reading a few adaptations of Molly Bloom. Of course there is also Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Stephen Hero which links the early short stories to the later classics.

But Joyce's short stories differ from the novels in that they are unique examples of the genre. Writers starting off on the path of fame often pick short stories to learn their trade. They are short, and they are stories. They are also singular in shape with often a single theme, a single setting, few characters, a clear narrative and subtle conflicts which lead to equally subtle and often open-ended resolutions.

So what of Joyce's stories in Dubliners? Fifteen in all, they give a clear snapshot of Dublin of the time, peopled with a range of lower- to middle-class characters inhabiting a city landscape which has now all but vanished, only available as faint images for those interested visitors who care to venture on a well-worn literary trail. What is interesting about reading the stories now is that they offer an insight into a bygone time, with twitching lace curtains.

Imagine a Dublin-set soap opera of 1914 where all the characters cross each other's paths without knowing one another - and without caring much about the many stories told in the book. It would obviously be a dramatic challenge to end all challenges to attempt to adapt Dubliners into a single entity and yet retain its unique nature. The copyright on the book should expire in a couple of years, so perhaps someone will have a bash at adapting the stories.

Dubliners starts with The Sisters, a tale of a young man's encounter with death. An old priest dies and the young man of the story visits the mourning home to pay his respects. The two sisters of the story reflect on the deceased priest's life, and although nothing much happens, the story offers a look into lives seldom seen. Is the story about the sisters, or the priest or the narrator? It is certainly about death - a recurring Irish theme.

An Encounter concerns a young boy growing up and indulging in boyish adventures until he meets an old and odd man with 'gaps between his yellow teeth'. Dublin's landscape becomes a character in the narrative. Much is unsaid; much left to the imagination. Araby introduces the young male narrator to the mysteries of womanhood. It focuses around a fraught and unsuccessful visit to a Bazaar to purchase a present for a young lady-friend. A slight yet effective story. Eveline is the first female protagonist in the Dubliners. Her story of a dissatisfied life and her wish to elope with her beau to Buenos Aires is one of the rare stories in the collection where there is a tension - will she go or will she stay? After the Race is an unusual addition to this collection in that the motorcar features heavily in the story about four young men about town. Bearing in mind the scarcity of cars in the Dublin of the time, the story takes on a particular aspect.

The stories so far in the collection are short, sweet and observational in style - as if Joyce has an arm's length relationship with the characters and their situations. Two Gallants takes on a different hue. It's longer, and deals with more overt sexual matters in the case of two bachelors discussing and executing affairs of the heart. It's also a forerunner of Ulysses in that the reader is taken on a street-by-street tour of central Dublin. Lenehan of the story could almost become a modern-day walking-tour guide, retracing his steps of nearly a hundred years ago. And Two Gallants acknowledges the sexuality of the women in question. It's one of the most engaging stories so far in the book.

The Boarding House is a lovely tale, which gives a feeling that Joyce has hit his stride as a writer. It's the story of a young girl living with her mother who runs a boarding house, and the girl's affair with one of the boarders. It's well-defined, with sympathies going out to all the characters in the story as it becomes clear that the young man has to 'do the right thing'. A line which may resonate with modern readers describes the income the young man can offer his bride. As the mother remarks, 'she knew he had a good screw for one thing, and she suspected he had a bit of stuff [money] put by.' Oh dear, how the language can change!

A Little Cloud tells the story of two friends. One goes to London to make his fortune; one stays behind in Dublin. The two meet, and disappointments abound. There's a strong narrative, with a real feeling of eves-dropping on private lives. Counterparts also takes up the theme of Dublin buddies out on the drink. The protagonist is in a dull job and despite a fleeting defiance towards his overbearing boss, decides to pawn his watch and go on the lash with his mates. With money burning in his pocket, he soon ends up drunk and depressed only to return home to an almost empty house with no dinner on the table. A remarkable amount of drink is consumed. Clay is a poignant character-study of a woman who offers everything to everyone but is denied the one thing she craves - love and affection. Joyce can clearly write for women, and his female characters do carry a burden seldom understood by men, certainly men of Dublin at the time.

A Painful Case tells the story of platonic friendship, which becomes unrequited love, which turns to tragedy. Two people meet, a bachelor and a married woman. They become friends, more beckons, guilt kicks in, they part and it ends in tears. A key quote in the story rings a sad truth for the period: 'Love between man and man is impossible because there must not be sexual intercourse and friendship between man and woman is impossible because there must be sexual intercourse.' Another longer than average story, Ivy Day in the Committee Room is the most political of the bunch. It deals with a local municipal election in Dublin, and the characters sit around a committee room drinking and discussing issues of the day. In a pre-1916 setting, the political allusions are interesting - as the story refers to a visit from a German monarch, Edward Rex, the King of England! There is also great talk of Parnell, and the fact that they are celebrating his anniversary. The story ends with an ode to 'The death of Parnell, 6th October 1891'.

A Mother is an interesting story which centres around a concert performance that doesn't quite go according to plan. A daughter is engaged to perform at an important concert. It looks as if the event-organisers are going to renege on the payment of fees – until the daughter's mother gets involved. It's a story which will resonate with anyone working in the arts, where getting proper dues for services rendered (or not in the case of a cancelled concert or performance) becomes a keen issue. The mother here refuses to allow her daughter to go on stage until she is paid - with consequences. Grace can easily be described as the clerical version of Ivy Day - it centres around a group of men solving the problems of the world while drinking a great deal. It starts with a man falling in a drunken stupor, biting off a bit of his tongue. His friends decide that he needs to embrace the church in order to mend his ways. Whereas Ivy Day is the most political of the Dubliners stories, Grace is by far the most religious. The final story, The Dead, is perhaps the most famous, and often appears in short story anthologies. It is also the longest, and can perhaps be best described as a novella.

First published in 1914, the stories in Dubliners pick up on the growing literary revival of the time as well as a groundswell of political thought and action leading towards Irish independence. Many of the characters in the stories appeared as minor characters later in Ulysses, and it is easy to see where Joyce was heading in the writing of these stories. The stories also reflect the growth of the writer as expressed in the narration, which moved from childhood through adolescence to maturity.

And as for a thirty-year revisit by the reviewer? Reading Dubliners is like sifting through a random selection of sepia photographs of the period and picking out individuals and landscapes and imagining stories to fit the images. The stories stand on their own two feet - as would be expected - and there's particular enjoyment in journeying through the streets of Dublin, conversations over a glass of porter or whiskey, and the bitter-sweet comings and goings of relationships. It is said that Joyce's characters in Dubliners often have a moment of self-realisation – an epiphany. It's something that the reader may share.

(c) John Dunne 2009

reviewed 25 March 2009 / London

NOTES - Dubliners by James Joyce (1882-1941); first published in 1914 by Grant Richards Ltd, London. In print and available from eg Waterstone. A current edition is ISBN - 9780199536436, publisher - Oxford University Press, paperback 352 pages, date of publication - 12 June 2008.