‘The Dead’ was the last story of Dubliners to be written. It seems that Joyce conceived the idea while living in Rome in 1906, but the story was only written in the summer of 1907, after he and his family had returned to live in Trieste. Joyce knew the actual house at 15 Usher’s Island where his mother’s aunts lived and ran a finishing school for girls. ‘The Dead’ is one of Joyce’s most popular works, and a film version was made in 1987 by John Huston. It was the last film Huston made and it starred his daughter Angelica Huston in the role of Gretta Conroy, with Donal McCann as Gabriel. The story provides a snapshot of Irish social life at the turn of the century and culminates in the final epiphany of Gabriel as he peers out at the snow from his room in the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street. To listen to the final passage press ‘C’.
Press ‘A’ to learn about the story ‘Araby’… Press ‘B’ to learn more about the story ‘The Dead’… Press ‘C’ to listen to the final lines of ‘The Dead’…