Esther
2025년 10월 10일
세종북클럽의 12월 선정 도서는 James Joyce의 <Dubliners>입니다.
Last Christmas, I bought two collections of holiday stories - one I nibbled through slowly, the other I saved for this year. I’d hoped to pitch it for our December read, to add something festive to the near-end-of-year mood. But the book’s gone out of print, it seems. Still, December feels like the season when a little old-fashioned nostalgia is allowed - snow outside, red-and-green wrapping paper, soft carols under amber lights. Maybe it’s just that wish to step away from the glossy, commercial version of Christmas and return to something quieter, more rooted.
After circling through countless options, I kept coming back to one: Dubliners by James Joyce. It feels like a small compromise, since I meant to choose only books I haven’t read before. But my first encounter with it, about twenty years ago, was half-lost in my rough English, not quite ready for Joyce’s subtlety. So this might feel like a first reading after all.
Partly, I blame Almodóvar’s new film The Room Next Door, where "The Dead" - the final story in Dubliners, and my first lesson in what an “epiphany” could be - makes a quiet, evocative appearance. The pull was too strong to resist, even if it means bending my own rule.
It’s perhaps the most approachable of Joyce’s works, and one that rewards slow, thoughtful reading. I’d love for you to (re)discover why scholars, students, and ordinary readers alike still find themselves haunted by these stories. Enjoy the read and see you in December.
*
Joyce's first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world for the first time. His stories are rooted in the rich detail of Dublin life, portraying ordinary, often defeated lives with unflinching realism. He writes of social decline, sexual desire and exploitation, corruption and personal failure, yet creates a brilliantly compelling, unique vision of the world and of human experience.
아일랜드의 세계적인 작가 제임스 조이스의 첫 소설집『더블린 사람들』. <젊은 예술가의 초상>, <율리시스>와 함께 '더블린 삼부작'으로 불리는 작품으로, 아일랜드의 수도 더블린의 삶을 사실적으로 묘사했다. 그 속에서 살아가는 중산층 서민들의 삶을 통해 20세기 초 더블린의 실상을 보여준다. 이 작품에 등장하는 사건들과 등장인물들은 조이스가 알고 지냈던 실제 인물들과, 그와 다른 사람들이 겪은 경험을 바탕으로 하고 있다. 유년기, 청년기, 장년기, 그리고 대중 생활이라는 시간적 순서에 따라 유기적으로 배치되어 있는 열다섯 편의 소설을 만날 수 있다.
We will meet on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, at 5pm.
Join us for an evening of camaraderie and intellectual stimulation. Admission is free, but attendance is restricted to individuals of college age and above. You can sign up for the meeting via Karrot (당근 모임) or secure your spot through Kakao (에스더어학원).
세종에 거주하고 있는 외국인을 포함해 교사, 강사, 회사원, 공무원 및 가사일을 하시는 분들에게도 원서독서를 장려하고 자유롭게 토론할 수 있는 문학적/문화적 소통과 교류의 공간이 되고자 합니다. 해당 책을 읽고, 영어로 소통이 가능한 대학생 이상의 성인에 한해 누구나 무료로 참석할 수 있습니다. 2025년 12월 모임의 책으로는 James Joyce의 Dubliners를 읽습니다.