Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Amsterdam Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep 2016
User reviews
LibraryThing member jpsnow
Given its status as runaway bestseller, I found this somewhat unimpressive. The storyline is captivating and the history and art are definitely thought-provoking. But this simply isn't a gripping tale.
LibraryThing member alv
Utterly boring, mannered, nothing happens until the last few pages and the translation is abysmal. Don't even get close to it.
NOTE: after seeing the rattings given by everybody else, I am starting to think I missed something. I still remember it as extremely boring.
NOTE: after seeing the rattings given by everybody else, I am starting to think I missed something. I still remember it as extremely boring.
LibraryThing member Mromano
The Dead is the final story of Joyce's Dubliners and that works crowning achievement. It is considered one of the finest short stories ever written. The main character is essentially a man that Joyce might have become had he stayed in Ireland instead of living his life as an exile. Joyce of course
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would become the world class author and would be immortalized in his works. This is the underlying theme of the Dead. Everyone in the Dead is of course Dead, never actually having really existed, but the fact that you read the story breathes life into the work and thus gives immortality to the author (who is not dead symbolically). Thus the Dead deals with a common Joycean theme, that true immortality is not achieved through a fantasy afterlife, it is achieved here and now through immortal art. Show Less
LibraryThing member eachurch
An extraordinary piece of fiction which starts off being about one thing, then turns into a story about something else, but then turns in a completely different story. Joyce does this in a seamless way that makes it seem inevitable. The very end is devastating.
LibraryThing member RajivC
Synopsis
“The Dead” by James Joyce is a book that works on several levels. You can read a detailed synopsis at “End Notes”. I will, however, write a synopsis of the synopsis. I was left with a few questions. Is it just about the dead, or is it also about remembrance? Do the Dead come to
It is a short story. Most of the story takes place over dinner, at a social event of, Christmas. The misses Morkan’s have invited everyone for the “annual dance”. Their nephew, Gabriel and his wife, Gretta, are the favored guests. Gabriel is the master of ceremonies. He is pompous and does not think much of his fellow guests. He gives a speech ruffling no feathers. After dinner, Gabriel notices his wife listening as Bartell D’Arcy, accompanied by Miss O’Callaghan at the piano, sings a traditional Irish song— “The Lass of Aughrim.”
Later, when he and Gretta return to a hotel, he is overcome with passion for her. She, however, is lost in the past. The song has brought back memories of her teenage years, and a young boy, Michael Furey, who died of a broken heart for her.
Gabriel is left to stew in his own juice and is forced to evaluate their marriage and what it means.
My Review
It is a short book, as I wrote earlier. “The Dead” is a finely layered book. At one level, we get a clear understanding of Gabriel’s character. He is pompous and carries himself with an air of superiority.
It paints a picture of a social event hosted by three aging ladies, and the conversations and conventions that we observe at such events.
It paints a picture of Gabriel and Gretta’s relationship. Are they as happy as they seem to be? It forces the reader to ask: are we as happy in our relationships as we believe? None of us will know for sure.
Love and death are two themes that James Joyce explores skillfully. You are unlikely to forget your first love, especially if that person died of a broken heart for you. Indians who have seen the Hindi film, “Devdas”, will attest to the enduring appeal of a love story that ends with one person dying of a broken heart. I find “Devdas” melodramatic. James Joyce has written about Gretta’s love beautifully.
Finally, the dead. When do the dead leave us? When we forget them, I suppose. James Joyce hints at our complex relationship with death when the conversations veers to the monks who sleep in their coffins. They are preparing for what is coming, as the conversation goes.
Finally, the memory of Michael Furey comes back with a vengeance. He seems to come to life to wedge himself between husband and wife.
We never discover if this wedge has now become permanent. Is their marriage ruined beyond repair? Can Gabriel to work to repair any past damage or fill a void in their marriage?
We can speculate. We are, however, left with the dead. The Dead seem to live within us. Is this what remembrance is about?
When do they leave us?
“The Dead” by James Joyce is a book that works on several levels. You can read a detailed synopsis at “End Notes”. I will, however, write a synopsis of the synopsis. I was left with a few questions. Is it just about the dead, or is it also about remembrance? Do the Dead come to
Show More
life? When do we die?It is a short story. Most of the story takes place over dinner, at a social event of, Christmas. The misses Morkan’s have invited everyone for the “annual dance”. Their nephew, Gabriel and his wife, Gretta, are the favored guests. Gabriel is the master of ceremonies. He is pompous and does not think much of his fellow guests. He gives a speech ruffling no feathers. After dinner, Gabriel notices his wife listening as Bartell D’Arcy, accompanied by Miss O’Callaghan at the piano, sings a traditional Irish song— “The Lass of Aughrim.”
Later, when he and Gretta return to a hotel, he is overcome with passion for her. She, however, is lost in the past. The song has brought back memories of her teenage years, and a young boy, Michael Furey, who died of a broken heart for her.
Gabriel is left to stew in his own juice and is forced to evaluate their marriage and what it means.
My Review
It is a short book, as I wrote earlier. “The Dead” is a finely layered book. At one level, we get a clear understanding of Gabriel’s character. He is pompous and carries himself with an air of superiority.
It paints a picture of a social event hosted by three aging ladies, and the conversations and conventions that we observe at such events.
It paints a picture of Gabriel and Gretta’s relationship. Are they as happy as they seem to be? It forces the reader to ask: are we as happy in our relationships as we believe? None of us will know for sure.
Love and death are two themes that James Joyce explores skillfully. You are unlikely to forget your first love, especially if that person died of a broken heart for you. Indians who have seen the Hindi film, “Devdas”, will attest to the enduring appeal of a love story that ends with one person dying of a broken heart. I find “Devdas” melodramatic. James Joyce has written about Gretta’s love beautifully.
Finally, the dead. When do the dead leave us? When we forget them, I suppose. James Joyce hints at our complex relationship with death when the conversations veers to the monks who sleep in their coffins. They are preparing for what is coming, as the conversation goes.
Finally, the memory of Michael Furey comes back with a vengeance. He seems to come to life to wedge himself between husband and wife.
We never discover if this wedge has now become permanent. Is their marriage ruined beyond repair? Can Gabriel to work to repair any past damage or fill a void in their marriage?
We can speculate. We are, however, left with the dead. The Dead seem to live within us. Is this what remembrance is about?
When do they leave us?
Show Less
LibraryThing member Arkrayder
First James Joyce book I’ve ever read. Wasn’t what I was expecting. Really liked the style of writing.
LibraryThing member IonaS
It was the annual dance of Kate and Julia Morkan, otherwise known as Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia, two small plainly-dressed old women””
Mary Jane was their only niece and Gabriel Conroy their favourite nephew.
It was a musical family. Julia was a leading soprano, and Kate gave music lessons to
Everybody came to the dance, including members of Julia’s choir, any of Kate’s pupils that were old enough, and some of Mary Janes’ pupils.
Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, did housemaid’s work for Julia and Kate, and, tonight, answered the door and helped the gentlemen guests off with their overcoats.
It was a cold winter’s night and it was snowing.
Gabriel was a “”stout, tallish young man”; his wife was called Gretta.
Gabriel and Gretta are not going back home tonight, but have booked a room at a hotel nearby.
There was a man called Freddy present who was often quite drunk, but he wasn’t too inebriated on this occasion.
Gabriel was mostly focussed on preparing in his head the speech he was going to make later and wondering whether he should quote Browning or not.
In a week or so Freddy was going to stay in a monastery. The monks never spoke, and slept in their coffins to remind themselves ”of their last end” and to make up for the sins committed by all the sinners in the outside world.
In his speech, Gabriel says they should cherish in their hearts “”the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world will not willingly let die”.
He calls the aunts and Mary Jane the “Three Graces of the Dublin musical world”, and toasts them all three.
Gabriel and his wife leave. Gabriel is happy and recalls the moments of their life together tht no one knew of or would ever know of”. He longed to remind his wife of their moments of ecstasy.
In a letter to her he had written “Why is it that words like these seem to me so dull nd cold? Is it because there is no word tender enough to be your name?”
They took a cab to their hotel. He felt lustful; he felt that they had run away together “with wild and radiant hearts to a new adventure”.
Suddenly she came over to him and kissed him.
“His heart was brimming over with happiness.”
Gretta was thinking about a song that had been sung at the party – “The Lass of Aughrim”, and then she began to cry.
She was thinking of a person long ago who used to sing that song.
Ganriel becoms angry.
“Someone you were in love with?” he asks ironically.
It was a young boy called Michael Furey. He was very delicate and had big, dark eyes.
She used to go walking with him.
Gabriel becomes jealous now.
He is dead, died when only seventeen.
While Gabriel had been full of memories of their secret life together, Gretta had been comparing him to another.
The boy was ill, in decline; Gretta wrote to him and said she was going to Dublin (to a convent), and would be back in the summer.
The night before she left, she heard gravel being thrown against the window, and it was he, Michael, shivering in the rain.
He said he did not want to live.
After she had only been a week in the convent, he died.
She sobbed and fell sleep.
The boy had died for her sake.
Gabriel thought about how Aunt Julia too would soon be a “shade””.
“One by one, they were all becoming shades.”
“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled with tears. He had never himself felt like the boy did towards any woman, and he knew that feeling must be love.
Gabriel’s soul had approached “that region where dwelt --- the dead””.
He felt like the “solid world” was “dissolving and dwindling”.
The snow was falling over all Ireland, also on the lonely churchyard where Michael Furey was buried. The snow was falling “upon all the living and the dead”.
Thus Gabriel’s lust changed to anger, then jealousy, and finally to compassion for the dead young man, compassion for his love, and loss of the girl, Gretta, now Gabriel’s wife., and her loss of him.
I found this to be a wonderfully expressed story, full of emotion and understanding.
Gabriel had found new empathy for the dead and for those left behind.
Mary Jane was their only niece and Gabriel Conroy their favourite nephew.
It was a musical family. Julia was a leading soprano, and Kate gave music lessons to
Show More
beginners. Everybody came to the dance, including members of Julia’s choir, any of Kate’s pupils that were old enough, and some of Mary Janes’ pupils.
Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, did housemaid’s work for Julia and Kate, and, tonight, answered the door and helped the gentlemen guests off with their overcoats.
It was a cold winter’s night and it was snowing.
Gabriel was a “”stout, tallish young man”; his wife was called Gretta.
Gabriel and Gretta are not going back home tonight, but have booked a room at a hotel nearby.
There was a man called Freddy present who was often quite drunk, but he wasn’t too inebriated on this occasion.
Gabriel was mostly focussed on preparing in his head the speech he was going to make later and wondering whether he should quote Browning or not.
In a week or so Freddy was going to stay in a monastery. The monks never spoke, and slept in their coffins to remind themselves ”of their last end” and to make up for the sins committed by all the sinners in the outside world.
In his speech, Gabriel says they should cherish in their hearts “”the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world will not willingly let die”.
He calls the aunts and Mary Jane the “Three Graces of the Dublin musical world”, and toasts them all three.
Gabriel and his wife leave. Gabriel is happy and recalls the moments of their life together tht no one knew of or would ever know of”. He longed to remind his wife of their moments of ecstasy.
In a letter to her he had written “Why is it that words like these seem to me so dull nd cold? Is it because there is no word tender enough to be your name?”
They took a cab to their hotel. He felt lustful; he felt that they had run away together “with wild and radiant hearts to a new adventure”.
Suddenly she came over to him and kissed him.
“His heart was brimming over with happiness.”
Gretta was thinking about a song that had been sung at the party – “The Lass of Aughrim”, and then she began to cry.
She was thinking of a person long ago who used to sing that song.
Ganriel becoms angry.
“Someone you were in love with?” he asks ironically.
It was a young boy called Michael Furey. He was very delicate and had big, dark eyes.
She used to go walking with him.
Gabriel becomes jealous now.
He is dead, died when only seventeen.
While Gabriel had been full of memories of their secret life together, Gretta had been comparing him to another.
The boy was ill, in decline; Gretta wrote to him and said she was going to Dublin (to a convent), and would be back in the summer.
The night before she left, she heard gravel being thrown against the window, and it was he, Michael, shivering in the rain.
He said he did not want to live.
After she had only been a week in the convent, he died.
She sobbed and fell sleep.
The boy had died for her sake.
Gabriel thought about how Aunt Julia too would soon be a “shade””.
“One by one, they were all becoming shades.”
“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled with tears. He had never himself felt like the boy did towards any woman, and he knew that feeling must be love.
Gabriel’s soul had approached “that region where dwelt --- the dead””.
He felt like the “solid world” was “dissolving and dwindling”.
The snow was falling over all Ireland, also on the lonely churchyard where Michael Furey was buried. The snow was falling “upon all the living and the dead”.
Thus Gabriel’s lust changed to anger, then jealousy, and finally to compassion for the dead young man, compassion for his love, and loss of the girl, Gretta, now Gabriel’s wife., and her loss of him.
I found this to be a wonderfully expressed story, full of emotion and understanding.
Gabriel had found new empathy for the dead and for those left behind.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1914
Physical description
78 p.; 18 cm
ISBN
9789025304898