James Joyce et al - Day 10 of the A to Z Challenge

Cinnia awoke after a restful and peaceful sleep. She was off to Dublin today. Mythology and folktales are not the only literary works well known in Ireland. It was time to explore the work and inspirations of other well regarded authors. A James Joyce walking tour was just the way to get kick off the day. Cinnia chose the “Dubliners” tour because it focused on Joyce’s life and the gritty look at real life he presented.
 
I want to understand more about what inspired other authors and how they chose to put their ideas into words and create tales that stand the test of time. Dubliners resonates with the escapism I feel. I wonder how much of that is human nature in general or just my human nature.
 
After the walking tour, Cinnia spent some time in the Dublin Writer’s Museum. Here she was able to explore the works of Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde, as well as others. A bona fide bookworm, the written word took hold of Cinnia’s imagination at a young age and never let go.
 
I read Gulliver’s Travels in high school. I remember enjoying it more as fairy tale with the travels to different lands than as a work reflecting human kind. I think it may be time to reread this as an adult with a different perspective.
 
I can’t remember if I read The Picture of Dorian Gray in high school or college. I do remember being mesmerized by the change in the portrait as the real man sinks deeper and deeper into shame and corruption. This is yet another tale focusing on the human condition. Joyce, Swift, and Wilde capture such diverse portraits of people and human emotions and interactions.
 
While researching the famous writers of Ireland, Cinnia made two surprising discoveries, Bram Stoker was a Dubliner and C. S. Lewis was born in Belfast.
 
I had no idea Bram Stoker was Irish. I love Dracula and have read it multiple times. I uncovered that the inspiration for  the story came from the crypts beneath St. Michan’s Church – perhaps I need to add a visit here to my itinerary. I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it.
 
The Chronicles of Narnia are stories I love as much as an adult as I did when I was a child. They still capture my imagination and I am convinced that someday in an antiquing adventure I will find a wardrobe that will allow me to visit another world.
 
I aspire to reach people in the same manner these works reached me.

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