The Dead Summary
James Joyce

Biography EssayFew writers have as secure a claim to be the major figure of the modernist period in literary history as James Joyce, a position that he prepared himself for with diligence and commitme... Read more

James Joyce is a monument of modernism in literature. In the opening passage of his biography, James Joyce, Richard Ellmann aptly summarized the writer's impact on twentieth-century letters, "We are s... Read more

Considered by many critics as the major writer of the twentieth century, James Joyce is nonetheless a minor poet both in the quantity and quality of his verse. The second of the ten children of John a... Read more

Rather than forging radically new means for fiction, the novels of James Joyce--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegans Wake (1939)--as well as his single short-s... Read more

In the following excerpt, Kaye examines "The Dead" as a study of Gabriel Conroy's epiphany and traces Joyce's ironic religious symbolism in the work. "The Dead&#... Read more

In the following essay, Ellmann uses biographical details to illuminate Joyce's highly autobiographical approach to "The Dead. " Works of Art begin before the writers who creat... Read more

In the following excerpt, Smith explores dichotomies of color and light as essential symbolism in "The Dead. " There is one feature of "The Dead" that has gone, for the ... Read more

In the following essay, Lytle analyzes "The Dead, " arguing that Christian symbolism is crucial to understanding the story. "The Dead" has obviously been put together by... Read more

In the following essay, Pecora approaches the question of whether Gabriel acquires a level of self-understanding at the close of "The Dead," maintaining that Gabriel "in no way ov... Read more

James Joyce's story, "The Dead," takes place in Dublin, Ireland in 1904 in the beginning of January. Gabriel Conroy and his wife, Gretta, attend the annual Christmas time gathering at the home of the... Read more

As the last story of James Joyce's short story collection, The Dubliners, "The Dead" is about a young Dubliner's one day of attending his aunts' party and his emotional changes after the party ends. I... Read more