The Dead by Joyce,James. [1993] Paperback

by Joyce

The Dead by Joyce,James. [1993] Paperback

Genres: Fiction, Classics

Paperback

Published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Vern Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gabriel's wife reflecting on past dead boyfriend, is the only thing I can think of regarding the title.
Irish style writing is hard to interpret at times.

[Paul Engelhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say that it's exactly a spoiler, but I do make reference to a loss - one would assume it is expected give the title. I don't name the specific loss, so it's less of a spoiler.

Anyway.

This starts off as a sweet charming story of a winter party hosted by two sweet, elderly aunts. While they are not young, they know how to throw a party that pleases everyone, appeals to everyone's dance, music and food tastes. The nephew of the aunts, Gabriel, is something of a master of ceremonies.

Politics, petty rivalries, concerns over over indulgences of some of the party guests abound, yet it all feels quaint and lovely.

The mini novel ends in a hotel room where Gabriel's wife details a loss she experienced as a young woman. Gabriel himself does not handle this new information well and gets a bit jealous and not terribly supportive of her grief (as he is interpreting it through the eyes their relationship and how me may be playing second fiddle to this lost love).

To say that the ending 'came out of nowhere' isn't exactly accurate. We see Mrs. Gabriel (Greta, I believe, is her name) growing weepy and weak after a song she hears at the party, so we know that something is not right in her world, but it seems a tad 'tacked on'. Like he needed an ending. I mean, when you title something "The Dead", you have to know that there will be some loss experienced through the telling of the tale. Still - 75% of happy happy joy joy and the final quarter of the work being death and grief seems a little forced.

The writing is strong however and strong enough to get over the blip in the plot of "okay. Time for sadness now". I would now be interested in watching the highly touted film from...what was it, the 1990s?

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Dead" is the final and longest story in James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914), a collection that presents a realistic and often bleak portrayal of early 20th-century Dublin life. Considered one of Joyce’s greatest short stories, The Dead explores themes of identity, memory, love, and mortality through the experiences of Gabriel Conroy, a socially conscious yet insecure protagonist. The story’s famous epiphany in the final paragraphs elevates it to a near-mystical meditation on the passage of time and the persistence of the past.
The story unfolds during an annual Christmas gathering at the Dublin home of the Morkan sisters, Kate and Julia, who host a festive dinner and dance. Their nephew, Gabriel Conroy, arrives with his wife, Gretta, and soon finds himself navigating social anxieties. Throughout the evening, Gabriel engages in intellectual discussions, delivers a well-received toast, and wrestles with his own insecurities about his relationship with his wife, his Irish identity, and his role in society. The climax occurs when Gretta, hearing a song—"The Lass of Aughrim"—is overcome with emotion. Later, she confesses to Gabriel that the song reminds her of Michael Furey, a young man who died tragically after waiting for her in the cold many years ago. Gabriel realizes that his wife has loved a dead man more deeply than she has ever loved him. This revelation leaves him feeling insignificant, forcing him to confront his own mortality in a profound epiphany as he watches the snow fall over all of Ireland. Gabriel’s struggles with his Irish identity, class status, and self-perception are central to the story. As a well-educated, cosmopolitan man, he feels disconnected from the traditional Irish culture represented at the party. His speech reflects this divide, as he quotes European authors and worries about being perceived as too pretentious or out of touch. His crisis of identity culminates in his realization that he may never have truly understood his own wife. While Gabriel assumes he has a strong bond with Gretta, her emotional response to Michael Furey’s memory reveals the limitations of their marriage. The story contrasts romanticized love (Michael Furey’s youthful passion) with Gabriel’s more conventional and uninspired relationship. The story’s famous final passage describes snow falling “upon all the living and the dead,” symbolizing Gabriel’s realization that life and death are inextricably linked. He sees himself as just one small part of the larger cycle of existence, and his epiphany forces him to acknowledge his own insignificance and ensuing demise. Joyce’s haunting meditation on love, time, and self-awareness, through Gabriel’s journey, surveys human defenselessness and the universal experience of loss. The story’s lyrical and melancholic ending, coupled with its rich symbolism and psychological depth, cements its place as one of the greatest short stories ever written.

[Cailin Leithead · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just did a more comprehensive review on the other version but it was so boring and I wouldn’t recommend. The notes made it so distracting, didn’t even adresss the words and phrases I actually had questions on, made it seem like he just paraphrased and copied a lot of quotes from other texts and authors and just put a bunch of places in it which also felt unoriginal because so much of the book referred to ancient architecture, parts of Ireland or statues and landmarks. The footnotes also took away from the story and made an already boring, confusing and hard to read book, even more confusing and take even longer.

[Aadit Panse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the book, the descriptions were wonderful and made me feel like I was there listening to the piano or eating with the family. However, and maybe this is an issue with me, sometimes I just couldn't understand the themetaic plot. I just couldn't understand the problems that James joyce talked about. It is most likely that there may be a gap in my knowledge either about his craft or the context of his writing.

[Martyna Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

[e · Rating 5 out of 5]

deep, thought-provoking work. I wish I was mature enough to just simply enjoy these types of works, but I think I will stick to light, escapist literature with little conflict to save me from these feelings of anguish and despair. nevertheless a good read.

[morgan rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this in high school and then gave it to my little
brother to use for the same class a couple of years later. i couldn’t really focus on the story all that much bc my brother’s teenage commentary was too funny lol.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I selected this book for our 60 year old Book Club. I thought we could use some James Joyce and it was well reviewed. Not exactly the Christmas theme I was hoping. We’ll see what others think of it on Wednesday evening. Ugh.

[Nicolas Jao]

-pretty good. i liked the heartfelt tone of the story. also beautiful prose
-felt like an introduction to the essence of irish culture

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite stories by Joyce.

[Raegan Hoyer]

bleak!

[Rosc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative read on the day that the story occurs. Beautifully
Written.

[Brodie Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very introspective but hurt my heart ❤️. Such a good Christmas story but also a story about being dissatisfied and having feelings of pretentiousness and feeling guilty about it.

[Lola Stocking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brev. Listened to bbc audiobook. So beautiful

[Akash Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dull and soft, like Dublin snow

[anoldfashionedgirl]

Read for school. Was mildly entertaining, had a few iffy things.

[Juli Wisotsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how this books reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it on The Classic Tales podcast. Wonderful accents and descriptions. Such emotion.