The Sisters (short story)
Encyclopedia
The Sisters is a short story by James Joyce
, the first of a series of short stories called Dubliners
. The Irish Homestead Journal originally published The Sisters on 13 August 1904. It was Joyce's first published work of fiction. Joyce later revised the story and had it, along with the rest of the series, published in book form in 1914.
.
The story starts with the boy contemplating Father Flynn's illness and impending death. He is fascinated with interpreting signs and symbols, and their meaning.
Later, while the boy eats his dinner, his aunt, uncle, and old Cotter have a conversation in which the boy is informed that the priest has died. The conversation focuses on the priest and his relationship with the boy.
That night the boy is haunted by images of the priest, and he dreams of escape to a mysterious land.
The next day the boy goes to look at the announcement that the priest has died, and then wanders about, further puzzling about his dream and about his relationship with the priest.
That night the boy and his aunt go to the house of mourning. They view the corpse with Nannie, and then they sit with the sisters Eliza and Nannie. They are offered food and drink, and then Eliza and the aunt carry on a conversation that reveals that Father Flynn had apparently suffered a mental breakdown after accidentally breaking a chalice. The dialogue then trails off.
The choice of the title is quite curious as the story clearly focuses on the boy's relationship with the dead priest and the sisters Eliza and Nannie seem to be quite marginal to it. Joyce's intention in giving this title to the story is far from obvious.
of the editorial department of the weekly paper The Irish Homestead wrote Joyce a letter in regards to a section of the journal called "Our Weekly Story":
Dear Joyce Look at the story in this paper The Irish Homestead. Could
you write anything simple, rural?, livemaking?, pathos?, which could
be inserted so as not to shock the readers. If you could furnish a short
story about 1800 words suitable for insertion the editor will pay £1.
It is easily earned money if you can write fluently and don't mind playing
to the common understanding and liking for once in a way. You can sign it
any name you like as a pseudonym. Yours sincerely
Geo. W. Russell(Letter p. 43)
Joyce took the offer, and The Sisters was published on August 13, 1904 using the pseudonym Stephen Dædulus, a name given to one of Joyce's semi-autobiographical literary characters in his later novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
and Ulysses
. The Sisters was the start of a series called Dubliners which he hoped the Homestead would continue to publish. In fact, Joyce would write two more stories for the Homestead, Eveline
and After the Race
, before complaints stopped the paper from publishing any more of his stories. Joyce, nevertheless, continued to add more stories to the collection. But, he had great difficulty getting Dubliners published, and it wasn't until 1914 that the first edition of the book came out. During that decade, The Sisters went through a number of revisions:
The two published versions have essentially the same plot. The diction, however, was transformed from a romantic
style to a wholly modernist
text.
The Homestead version spelled much out for the reader. In the 1914 version, on the other hand, Joyce dropped the non-essential commentary leaving the facts to speak for themselves, a style Joyce called "scrupulous meanness." Readers are left to interpret and feel the bare facts for themselves. The style demands a greater engagement by the reader who must now provide more interpretation of the facts.
Other changes were made to characterisation
and relationships. In particular, Joyce severely strengthened the relationship between the priest and the boy making it stand out as a memorable feature of the story.
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, the first of a series of short stories called Dubliners
Dubliners
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....
. The Irish Homestead Journal originally published The Sisters on 13 August 1904. It was Joyce's first published work of fiction. Joyce later revised the story and had it, along with the rest of the series, published in book form in 1914.
Major characters
- The boy (narrator)
- James Flynn, former priest
- Eliza Flynn, sister of James Flynn
- Nannie Flynn, sister of James Flynn
- Old Cotter
- Aunt of the boy
- Uncle of the boy
Plot summary
The Sisters gives a portrait of the relationship between a nameless boy and the infirmed priest Father Flynn. The priest who has been relieved of his priestly duties has acted as a mentor for the boy in the clerical duties of a Catholic priestHoly Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
.
The story starts with the boy contemplating Father Flynn's illness and impending death. He is fascinated with interpreting signs and symbols, and their meaning.
Later, while the boy eats his dinner, his aunt, uncle, and old Cotter have a conversation in which the boy is informed that the priest has died. The conversation focuses on the priest and his relationship with the boy.
That night the boy is haunted by images of the priest, and he dreams of escape to a mysterious land.
The next day the boy goes to look at the announcement that the priest has died, and then wanders about, further puzzling about his dream and about his relationship with the priest.
That night the boy and his aunt go to the house of mourning. They view the corpse with Nannie, and then they sit with the sisters Eliza and Nannie. They are offered food and drink, and then Eliza and the aunt carry on a conversation that reveals that Father Flynn had apparently suffered a mental breakdown after accidentally breaking a chalice. The dialogue then trails off.
Themes
From the numerous flashbacks and memories scattered through the story, Father Flynn is shown to have been an intellectual priest, trained in Rome and having a strong religious vocation, but unable to cope with the mundane daily routine of being a parish priest - which finally led to his collapse. The boy narrator is seen to have initially admired Father Flynn and looked up to him, and later felt deeply sorry for him and guilty about not having visited him in his last days - all of which the narrator must conceal from his adult environment, where Father Flynn is considered to have been a complete failure, his death is in fact regarded with relief and he is considered to have been a bad example from which the boy must be preserved.The choice of the title is quite curious as the story clearly focuses on the boy's relationship with the dead priest and the sisters Eliza and Nannie seem to be quite marginal to it. Joyce's intention in giving this title to the story is far from obvious.
Evolution of the story
In summer of 1904, George RussellGeorge William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
of the editorial department of the weekly paper The Irish Homestead wrote Joyce a letter in regards to a section of the journal called "Our Weekly Story":
Dear Joyce Look at the story in this paper The Irish Homestead. Could
you write anything simple, rural?, livemaking?, pathos?, which could
be inserted so as not to shock the readers. If you could furnish a short
story about 1800 words suitable for insertion the editor will pay £1.
It is easily earned money if you can write fluently and don't mind playing
to the common understanding and liking for once in a way. You can sign it
any name you like as a pseudonym. Yours sincerely
Geo. W. Russell(Letter p. 43)
Joyce took the offer, and The Sisters was published on August 13, 1904 using the pseudonym Stephen Dædulus, a name given to one of Joyce's semi-autobiographical literary characters in his later novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialised in the magazine The Egoist from 1914 to 1915, and published first in book format in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch, New York. The first English edition was published by the Egoist Press in February 1917...
and Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
. The Sisters was the start of a series called Dubliners which he hoped the Homestead would continue to publish. In fact, Joyce would write two more stories for the Homestead, Eveline
Eveline
Eveline is a story from Dubliners by James Joyce.-The story :A young woman of about nineteen years of age sits by her window, waiting to leave home. She muses on the aspects of her life that are driving her away, while "in her nostrils was the smell of dusty cretonne". Her mother has died as has...
and After the Race
After the Race
After the Race is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners.-The story:As many flashy cars drive toward Dublin, crowds gather and cheer. A race has just finished, and though the French have placed second and third after the German-Belgian team, the local sightseers...
, before complaints stopped the paper from publishing any more of his stories. Joyce, nevertheless, continued to add more stories to the collection. But, he had great difficulty getting Dubliners published, and it wasn't until 1914 that the first edition of the book came out. During that decade, The Sisters went through a number of revisions:
The two published versions have essentially the same plot. The diction, however, was transformed from a romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
style to a wholly modernist
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
text.
The Homestead version spelled much out for the reader. In the 1914 version, on the other hand, Joyce dropped the non-essential commentary leaving the facts to speak for themselves, a style Joyce called "scrupulous meanness." Readers are left to interpret and feel the bare facts for themselves. The style demands a greater engagement by the reader who must now provide more interpretation of the facts.
Other changes were made to characterisation
Characterisation
Characterization or characterisation is the art of creating characters for a narrative, including the process of conveying information about them. It may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation...
and relationships. In particular, Joyce severely strengthened the relationship between the priest and the boy making it stand out as a memorable feature of the story.
Online texts
- The Sisters (1904) – From the 13 August 1904 issue of The Irish Homestead.
- The Sisters (1914) – From the book Dubliners.
External links
- Dubliners at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- The Sisters by James Joyce FREE Audio & eText