Book excerpt: James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish writer. Author of "Dubliners," "The Dead," "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," and also "Ulysses," considered the work that inaugurates the modern novel and one of the most important in Western literature. "Dubliners" was written by James Joyce starting in 1904 and published in 1914. It consists of fifteen stories focusing on various aspects of city life and its inhabitants. It is an excellent entry point into the fascinating literary world of James Joyce.