“His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
So ends arguably the most famous short story contained in James Joyce’s Dubliners which, quite fittingly one may agree, has been named as the capital’s One City, One Book title for 2012.
The author John Boyne said that it was hard to imagine a more appropriate book than Dubliners: “It’s interested in all of us, rich and poor, old and young, men and women. It’s filled with humour and love, pain and loss, and which of our lives do not contain elements of each of these?
“Above all, it rings out with a love of these streets, of the voices of the people who inhabit them, their wit, their style, their optimism even as the world collapses around them,” he said.
While Dublin-dwellers are obviously encouraged to read the book, the city’s Lord Mayor, Andrew Montague yesterday also announced a raft of events to celebrate Joyce’s famous collection of stories.
One such event is a planned performance by the traditional band, The Dubliners, which took its name from the book, who will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Friday April 13th with musical and literary references to Joyce’s work.
Other events will include the ‘Dubliners story cycle’, which will witness readings of a different story from the book in various venues in the capital during the month of April; a discussion by the writers Paul Murray, Claire Kilroy and Dermot Bolger on Joyce’s influence on their work which will take place on Thursday 12th April; and a daily drop-in reading group at the Joycean-associated Sweny’s Pharmacy in 1 Lincoln Place which will take place each day from Tuesday to Friday in April.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for today’s Dubliners to dip into this window on Dublin’s past,” Mr Montague said in launching the programme of events yesterday, noting that it also ties in with Dublin’s status as a Unesco City of Literature.
O’Brien Press has published a special commemorative edition of the book copies of which are available on loan from all Dublin City public library branches and to buy in local book shops.