How the fuck isn't this mediocre in comparison to the other

>>9786594
It's longer form and slower pace make it less immediately gratifying and direct than the other stories. Instead of a screenshot of Dublin life, it's a short home movie. Like with any Joyce, the details really come out after rereading it and I think it's one of the better stories.

>>9786594
It seems that in general the best known historical artists are those deserving of recognition but often their best known works are also among their least interesting. Take for instance Mozart and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Ravel and Bolero

>>9786594
Because it's not mediocre in comparison to all the other stories. If you actually pay attention while reading it, there's an insane amount of detail that makes little sense until the very end. The ending to The Dead is one of the most sublime and satisfying in all of literature not because of just the end itself, but because it brings the entire story together. Joyce is an author that never had a word or sentence that wasn't important, so reread it and really take it all in. It's also a culmination of all the other stories in Dubliners: other characters are mentioned, such as the singing girl that got screwed over by her mom, and we really come to understand how that affected the rest of Dublin.

>>9786594
james.. easy on the taters

I guess I'll reread it...

It strives to be a crescendo and comes up short. The "epiphany" fizzles whilst straining for cosmic profundity. One wishes it worked, but it doesn't.

An Encounter, After the Race, The Boarding House, and A Little Cloud are less ambitious but perfectly realized, each with an epiphany that shines out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.

>>9788638
Imagine being this much of a pseud.

>>9788671
If you don't have anything interesting to post don't post anything at all

>>9788638
The entire collection is paced to build to The Dead. Those are all good stories but they're less ambitious and more self contained for the purpose of pacing; they focus on a specific street, or pub, or neighborhood while The Dead transcends the city to the idea of Ireland itself. On the surface I can see why it would be a cheesy cosmic copout but it's not about the people and their lives, it's about Dublin, Dubliners, and their shared identity.