Grace is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Dubliners audio book cover Dubliners is a collection of short stories by James Joyce, published in 1914. ...
The story
The story begins with an unconscious man who has fallen down the stairs in a pub after heavy drinking. A friend of his, Mr. Power, finds him, reveals him to be named Tom Kernan, and takes him home to his wife. Kernan is a salesman who once possessed an easy charm and manner but has since descended into alcoholism. An injury to his tongue sustained during the fall keeps Kernan in bed. Two days later, he is visited by his friends Power, M’Coy, and Cunningham. The friends have concocted a plan to get Kernan to attend a Catholic retreat with them. The four discuss many matters and finally settle upon religion. The friends mention going to a confessional retreat at a Jesuit church and invite Kernan along. He doesn’t respond to the idea at first. The conversation shows a superficial understanding of faith, and the friends make many comical errors about the church. The scene shifts to the Jesuit church where all are listening to a priest’s shallow sermonizing. The story is characterized by humor and subtle irony. Confessional is a small, enclosed area used for a Roman Catholic confession. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ...
References
Joyce, James. Dubliners (London: Grant Richards, 1914)
Michael M. Rea, a passionate reader and collector of shortstories, founded the Rea Award for the ShortStory in 1986 to be given annually to a living American or Canadian writer whose work has made a “significant contribution to the discipline of the shortstory as an art form”.
Rea, who traced his love of the shortstory back to his Irish roots noted, “The basic thrust of the award is to foster a literary cause, to ennoble the form, to give it prestige.” Michael M. Rea died in the summer of 1996.
Contemplating John Updike’s monumental achievement in the shortstory, one is moved to think of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, and perhaps William Faulkner--writers whose reputations would be as considerable, or nearly, if their shortstories had been all that they had written.
Woolf and others wrote entire stories in a stream of consciousness, which is completely different from sitting in a stream being conscious of what you write though that wouldn't be a bad way of writing either except that it might get cold and you get the picture.
In particular, stories like "The Southern Thruway," are incredible for their creativity and counsel that they give to the reader (traffic jams stink, porsches have all the goods, life is like a bottleneck).
Actually, modern shortstory writers probably hit closest to home because they deal with issues and conflicts that are related to the present.
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