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"Small wonders"
--"Time Out London"
"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
--Ron Rosenbaum, "The New York Observer"
--"Time Out London"
"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
--Ron Rosenbaum, "The New York Observer"
Product Description
A New Year's Eve gathering in Dublin is the setting of this elegant, accessible masterpiece that ends with a signature epiphany by the protagonist, who offers a perspective on the lives, dreams, and feelings of the party's guests. This beautifully packaged series of classic novellas includes the works of masterful writers. Inexpensive and collectible, they are the first single-volume publications of these classic tales, offering a closer look at this under-appreciated literary form and providing a fresh take on the world's most celebrated authors.
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6 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A Masterpiece
10 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback
Reynolds Price called it the greatest short story written in English. Carson McCullers reread it every Christmas. I have read James Joyce's masterpiece "The Dead" from his book DUBLINERS at least a half dozen times. I just reread it, and as usual, it made my eyes burn. It is one of those rare stories that, when you finish it, you call up those people you love and those who love literature to make sure they have read it too.
The story, set in Dublin, covers one evening during the Christmas season when two sisters, the Misses Morkan, Julia and Kate, hold their annual dance, the event of the season and not to be missed. Their nephew Gabriel and his wife Gretta are of course invited. Gabriel is pompous and, to use a current expression, full of himself as he gives his usual speech at the event. The last 4 or 5 pages of this rather long-- although there is not one sentence too many-- story contain some of the most moving language you will encounter in English. Joyce makes a sad, profound statement about love, life and death and asks the question of how well do we really know those people closest to us.
The story became the director John Huston's last film by the same name (1987). He cast his daughter Anjelica as Gretta. Tenor Frank Patterson, who left us far too soon, sang that glorious song "The Lass of Aughrim" in the movie that is almost as good as Joyce's story.
No one who loves literature should not know this perfect story.
The story, set in Dublin, covers one evening during the Christmas season when two sisters, the Misses Morkan, Julia and Kate, hold their annual dance, the event of the season and not to be missed. Their nephew Gabriel and his wife Gretta are of course invited. Gabriel is pompous and, to use a current expression, full of himself as he gives his usual speech at the event. The last 4 or 5 pages of this rather long-- although there is not one sentence too many-- story contain some of the most moving language you will encounter in English. Joyce makes a sad, profound statement about love, life and death and asks the question of how well do we really know those people closest to us.
The story became the director John Huston's last film by the same name (1987). He cast his daughter Anjelica as Gretta. Tenor Frank Patterson, who left us far too soon, sang that glorious song "The Lass of Aughrim" in the movie that is almost as good as Joyce's story.
No one who loves literature should not know this perfect story.
The dead are always with us
11 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is not the difficult James Joyce of Finnegan's Wake. Here Joyce very gracefully captures the complex mood of an evening that's both distinctly Irish and universal. His themes are deep but direct.
The story takes place in the first week of 1904. The scene is the annual ball given by two maiden aunts and their middle-aged niece. They're a musical family - and we hear old-fashioned songs. We hear amusing snippets of conversation among the guests.
Perhaps it's not so surprising that eating, drinking, singing and dancing lead to thoughts of death among some of the celebrants. I'll say no more but leave it to you to discover the subtle ironies of this story. Needless to say, the writing is exquisite.
I'm reviewing the Coyote Canyon Press edition of The Dead, not a study edition or an audio tape. There's a short biographical sketch of Joyce on the opening page that I found helpful as a refresher, since I haven't read James Joyce in years, but other no other scholarly material except footnotes. Readers will want to take care what edition they're buying.
The Dead is the last story in Dubliners. It might make more sense to buy the whole collection, unless you're really focusing on this story.
The story takes place in the first week of 1904. The scene is the annual ball given by two maiden aunts and their middle-aged niece. They're a musical family - and we hear old-fashioned songs. We hear amusing snippets of conversation among the guests.
Perhaps it's not so surprising that eating, drinking, singing and dancing lead to thoughts of death among some of the celebrants. I'll say no more but leave it to you to discover the subtle ironies of this story. Needless to say, the writing is exquisite.
I'm reviewing the Coyote Canyon Press edition of The Dead, not a study edition or an audio tape. There's a short biographical sketch of Joyce on the opening page that I found helpful as a refresher, since I haven't read James Joyce in years, but other no other scholarly material except footnotes. Readers will want to take care what edition they're buying.
The Dead is the last story in Dubliners. It might make more sense to buy the whole collection, unless you're really focusing on this story.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I HEAR THIS SETLOCK RENDITION OF THESE STORIES OVER AND OVER AGAIN
13 July 2006
Format:Audio Cassette|Amazon Verified Purchase
This review was written for the Setlock spoken word recording entitled the Dead but which also includes Ivy Day in the Committee Room.
Unfortunately amazon tends to reprint reviews for items of equal title, even across formats. Please do a search of The Dead, with commuter's library in the parameter and you will discover the correct item and an excellent unabridged recording of the Dead which you may soon grow to love and appreciate.
I have several different recordings of these stories, none done better than Setlock.
Ivy Day is my favorite tale for its complexity of "dialogue" (really octologue) which Setlock skillfully and subtly and in a lowered key relates. I have heard more dramatized and individualized readings, but Setlock gives a proper subdued, not quite melancholic tone, with quiet respectful humor, like a dear friend telling an ancient great tale at an old firplace while seated upon comfortable chairs before a gentle turf fire with adequate and appropriate beverage of an evening.
Ivy Day from Dubliners is truly a great story which stands up to multiple listenings, even after the initial jokes grow familiar ("and be glad he has a country to sell!"). Like rereading Ulysses several times, one's understanding and appreciation of the profounder universal themes only grows more acute upon each listening.
In fact I find in the profundity and conversational conflicts of Ivy Day the germ of the technical skills Joyce required to write the multiple conversations in the Cyclops and the newspaper office episodes (the latter I will not risk mispelling here).
The grace and gentle approach of Setlock bears up even under repeated and constant listening. I only wish these were transferred to CD before my tapes run out!
Joyce is made to be heard, not read. Hear him truly here.
Unfortunately amazon tends to reprint reviews for items of equal title, even across formats. Please do a search of The Dead, with commuter's library in the parameter and you will discover the correct item and an excellent unabridged recording of the Dead which you may soon grow to love and appreciate.
I have several different recordings of these stories, none done better than Setlock.
Ivy Day is my favorite tale for its complexity of "dialogue" (really octologue) which Setlock skillfully and subtly and in a lowered key relates. I have heard more dramatized and individualized readings, but Setlock gives a proper subdued, not quite melancholic tone, with quiet respectful humor, like a dear friend telling an ancient great tale at an old firplace while seated upon comfortable chairs before a gentle turf fire with adequate and appropriate beverage of an evening.
Ivy Day from Dubliners is truly a great story which stands up to multiple listenings, even after the initial jokes grow familiar ("and be glad he has a country to sell!"). Like rereading Ulysses several times, one's understanding and appreciation of the profounder universal themes only grows more acute upon each listening.
In fact I find in the profundity and conversational conflicts of Ivy Day the germ of the technical skills Joyce required to write the multiple conversations in the Cyclops and the newspaper office episodes (the latter I will not risk mispelling here).
The grace and gentle approach of Setlock bears up even under repeated and constant listening. I only wish these were transferred to CD before my tapes run out!
Joyce is made to be heard, not read. Hear him truly here.
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