Dublin Tales: (City Tales)

Dublin is one of the world's great literary cities, immortalized in works by some of the most celebrated international authors. It is a city of warmth and character, which combines the richest of histories with a vibrant contemporary edge, and which welcomes millions of people to its streets each year. In addition to being Ireland's capital city, Dublin is a city with a proud European identity and with long-established, dynamic links with the rest of the world. Dublin Tales comprises an exciting selection of stories from across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries which are illustrative of this. The stories in Dublin Tales are variously vibrant, evocative, humorous, and diverse, and engage in different ways with Dublin's history, its culture, its cityscape, and its people. It includes stories by writers who are intimately associated with the city (James Joyce and Brendan Behan), as well as by some of the most acclaimed Irish authors of the twentieth century (Elizabeth Bowen, Liam O'Flaherty, William Trevor, John McGahern, and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne). Less familiar authors are also included, as are specially commissioned stories from some of the most talented younger writers writing today (Caitriona Lally, Kevin Power, and Melatu Uche Okorie). Dublin Tales also includes bilingual versions of two stories which were originally written in the Irish language by Dara Ó Conaola and Caitlín Nic Íomhair, which have been specially translated into English for this startlingly original new book.

Table of Contents:
Editors' Introduction 1: George Egerton (Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright): Mammy 2: James Joyce: Two Gallants 3: Liam O'Flaherty: The Sniper 4: Elizabeth Bowen: Unwelcome Idea 5: James Stephens: A Rhinoceros, Some Ladies, and a Horse 6: Brendan Behan: The Confirmation Suit 7: John McGahern: Sierra Leone 8: Val Mulkerns: Four Green Fields 9: Dara Ó Conaola: I nGleic (In a Pickle) 10: William Trevor: Two More Gallants 11: Mary O'Donnell: The Black Church 12: Éilís Ní Dhuibhne: Miss Moffat Goes to Town 13: Mirsad Ibisevic: Emigrant 14: Caitlín Nic Íomhair: Cíocras (Relentless) 15: Melatu Uche Okorie: Arrival 16: Kevin Power: Catastrophe 17: Caitriona Lally: Tramlines

About the Author :
Eve Patten is Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Professor of English at Trinity College, Dublin, where she is a Fellow. A scholar in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature and cultural history, she worked for the British Council before joining Trinity as a lecturer in 1996. She specializes in the modern Irish and British novel and was a regular reviewer of new Irish fiction for the Irish Times and other publications for several years. Paul Delaney is Associate Professor in the School of English, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a scholar of twentieth-century and contemporary Irish writing, with particular focus in post-independence Irish literary culture and short fiction. He has written widely on Irish literature in peer-reviewed journals and publications. He joined Trinity as a lecturer in 2001, having completed his PhD at the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Research at the University of Kent (Canterbury) where he was a Chevening Scholar.

Review :
Dublin Tales is home to a wide range of historical and present-day perspectives on the place...Eve Patten and Paul Delaney...navigate in a beautifully written introduction an awareness of the kitschy use of fictional landmarks for attracting visitors, while producing a real map of Dublin as a literary metropolis. Dublin's many faces brought to life in eclectic collection of stories...Delaney and Patten's clear vision and painstaking selection of work creates a Janus-faced Dublin, sometimes wayward and sometimes constant, occasionally brutal and occasionally compassionate, above all capable of flicking from the familiar to the terrifying in a heartbeat. An engrossing, often moving, and very powerful anthology which really gets to the heart of its subject. I've enjoyed all of the 'Tales' collection from OUP, and this is a worthy addition - highly recommended! A curated anthology of short fiction celebrates the city of Dublin as literary setting and muse. An attractive and useful book... a lot of pleasure to be had here. Most of the stories in Dublin Tales show off Irish literature at its best: overflowing with feeling, humor, and insight... an excellent primer on where Dublin (and Irish literature) have been, and where they're going.