The Dead: With a New Introduction by Nuala O'Connor

By James Joyce

Book Overview

Portrays a Dublin Epiphany gathering where secrets, music, and revelations transform Gabriel and Gretta.

Dublin, 6 January 1904: the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Women's Christmas or Nollaig na mBan in Ireland. Gretta and Gabriel Conroy have travelled from Galway to attend an annual dinner party hosted by his aunts, the Morkan Sisters. As the house on Usher Quay fills with laughter, music and dancing, the worries and secrets of the guests interweave and overlap, like the chords and lyrics of a song, to culminate in a shocking confession by Gretta and a life-changing epiphany for Gabriel.

The closing story of James Joyce's Dubliners is widely considered the greatest short story ever written in the English language. His tender portrait of the Dublin of his youth, 'its ingenuous insularity and its hospitality', has captivated readers for over a century.

With a new introduction by the award-winning and bestselling Irish author, Nuala O'Connor, this exquisite hardback edition of The Dead is a seasonal gift for the ages.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1835940307
• ISBN13: 9781835940303
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: New Island Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Wrong date in description

The description says that the events of "The Dead" took place on New Year's Eve. They did not: the most likely date for the events (I'll spare you all the reasons and details) is the evening of January 6th, also know as "the Feast of the Epiphany."

Useful Case Study Collection of Literary Masterpiece

I've found this to be the most useful of all the "case study" texts I've tried from both St. Martin's/Bedford and Norton. The primary text is sufficiently contained and the representative critical methodologies presented clearly enough to introduce students to both literature and literary theory without overwhelming them. Moreover, "The Dead" is capable of repaying the close and observant reader with a Joycean "epiphany" perhaps not surpassed by any other literary text (the last several paragraphs, especially, require attention to the developing, altering meanings of each and every word). I have one caveat: the essay representing feminist criticism I frankly find baffling. The writer, apparently trying to have her cake and eat it too, manages to indict Joyce as a sexist while applauding the story as a critique of sexism and patriarchal hegemony! It does not "seem" to occur to her that Joyce may be removed from his central character, Gabriel, or that her evidence for Gabriel's male arrogance may actually be Joyce's idea from the start. A close reading of the character certainly suggests an ironic portrayal--everything that appears to be in Gabriel's favor is exposed through Joyce's subtle language as self-delusion. The feminist critic, however, impugns Joyce by suggesting that his "intentions" are less honorable than the meaning of the text itself! Perhaps the writer is overstating a point in order to provide a better example of the type of critical approach she was asked to represent for the purposes of this anthology. I know that I will suggest as much should I again have occasion to use this particular essay.

James Joyce read by Richard Setlock

I have listened to Setlock's readings, this one in particular, many times. He is very close to Joyce's voice, in interpretation and execution. The readings are masterly. This recording just grows and grows on you.