Dubliners is an enthralling collection of modernist short stories which form a turalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. Joyce's first major work, written when he was only twenty-five, brought his city to the world for the first time. These stories, including such unforgettable ones as "Araby," "Grace," and "The Dead," delve into the heart of the city of Joyce's birth, capturing the cadences of Dubliners' speech and portraying with an almost brute realism their outer and inner lives. The initial stories in the collection are rrated by child protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence and maturity.