The Sisters (short story)
# The Sisters (short story)

"The Sisters" is a short story by James Joyce, the first of a series of short stories called Dubliners. Originally published in the Irish Homestead on 13 August 1904, "The Sisters" 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 details a boy's connection with a local priest, in the context of the priest's death and reputation.

## 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

## Summary

"The Sisters" deals with the death of a priest, Father Flynn, who is shown to have had an association with the narrator, a young boy. The narrator had brought the priest snuff daily, and the priest had taught the boy about numerous topics, especially the traditions of the Catholic Church. It is revealed that the priest had died after an illness, and the narrator and his aunt visit the priest's home, where they are met by the priest's sisters, Eliza and Nannie.

## Evolution of the story

In summer of 1904, George Russell 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

Joyce took the offer, and ″The Sisters″ was published on 13 August 1904 using the pseudonym Stephen Dædalus, 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 that 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.

## Reception

"The Sisters" has been a subject of scholarly debate, mostly in regards to the priest's illness. One analysis of Father Flynn's illness throughout the second version of the story shows that Joyce deliberately implied that Father Flynn had central nervous system syphilis. Joyce was interested and qualified enough in medicine to be able to describe a syphilitic and had definite reasons for doing so. The syphilitic nature of Father Flynn's illness is apparent in the author's use of paralysis, which was often used synonymously with paresis (general paralysis of the insane) when Joyce began his revisions in 1905.

The priest having suffered from a sexually transmitted infection would help account for the adult society's negative opinion and disdain for him.

## Adaptations

* In February 2017, a short film adaptation of The Sisters was written & directed by Matthew Eberle

## Online texts

* The Sisters (1904) – From the 13 August 1904 issue of The Irish Homestead.
* The Sisters (1914) – From the book Dubliners.
