The Centenary of Dubliners—Historical, Digital, and Archival Approaches: The Seventh Annual University College Dublin James Joyce Research Colloquium, Dublin, Ireland, 10–12 April 2014

The resounding metallic clang of the trams that cross St. Stephen’s Green seemed a strikingly apt echo of turn-of-the-century Dublin as Joyceans gathered in the city on 10 April 2014 to mark the centenary of the publication of Dubliners. As the noise and movement of the trams linked us spacially and aurally with the urban bustle that releases Lenehan and Corley from their silence in “Two Gallants,” an equally fitting aura was palpable in Newman House, an imposing Georgian building on the green that was the original home of University College Dublin. The location chosen for the Colloquium’s proceedings reinforced the sense that our readings of Dubliners are ever informed by the material contexts in which they were written. This link to the past was a thread that ran through the entire Colloquium, with many papers bringing up questions of historical remembrance and focusing on the presence of ghostly or spectral figures in the stories.

The rejuvenating possibilities afforded by ghosts and specters were explored in a number of papers, the first of which was Scott Hamilton’s presentation on “The Dead”’s iPad app. Featuring a reading of the story by the actor Barry McGovern, contemporary images of Dublin, and architectural images of the house on Usher’s Island, the app successfully unites archival research with digital technology in the hope that it will bring new life to the story by making academic material more accessible to a wider audience, including new readers. While performing a celebration of cultural heritage, “The Dead”’s iPad app aims to ensure that the story will be read and studied by future generations. On the same panel, Andrew Kuhn discussed his work on “The Dubliners Bookshelf,” a digital project that aims to archive books and other printed materials that have a connection to the compositional and critical history of Dubliners. Terence Killeen then discussed the digital project “Inside Joycean Dublin,” which juxtaposes the Dublin of Dubliners and Ulysses with present-day Dublin and includes 3D models of the historical city for users to explore. The Colloquium’s first evening came to a close with a pleasantly informal, yet illuminating, discussion between Frank McGuinness and Anne Fogarty. In the surroundings of the former University College Dublin physics theater, McGuinness spoke of his first impressions of and artistic indebtedness to Joyce and the struggles inherent in attempting to adapt “The Dead” for theater. A wine reception followed, and, as is typical of such Joycean events, each person rushed to locate old friends and acquaintances among the crowd.

Andrew Gibson’s rigorously researched historicist paper set the tone for the following morning’s discussions. Compellingly illustrating the link between the type of conciliatory rhetoric we hear in Dubliners and popular contemporary forms of Protestant conciliation discourse, Gibson expanded on the ways in which Joyce’s embellishment of his characters’ personalities with agreeable or accommodating aspects was influenced by an already existent Protestant ideology of conciliation, which sprang forth as a response to Irish nationalism. Chrissie Van Mierlo’s paper followed smoothly, elaborating on Joyce’s employment of the controversial Catholic declaration of papal infallibility in “Grace,” with reference to the Vatican Council of 1868 when papal infallibility was first mentioned. The appetite for historicist research was catered to in the afternoon, as papers from historians—notably Anne Marie D’Arcy and Anthony J. Jordan—proved just how vital historicist readings are for Dubliners. D’Arcy, a specialist in medieval and Renaissance literature, unlocked the holy-grail connotations that have long preoccupied readers of “Araby,” grounding the image of the chalice in the story with her own expert knowledge of medieval romance. Her paper had everyone listening in rapt attention until the end, when the audience was steered to the conclusion that Joyce’s concept of the grail in “Araby” is fundamentally Christian. Richard Gerber, an independent scholar, offered a curiously light-hearted, yet well-grounded, talk, presenting a tantalizing collection of clues pointing towards James Clarence Mangan’s...