James Joyce: The Dead

Often cited as the best work of short fiction ever written, "The Dead" is the final short story in the 1914 collection Dubliners by James Joyce. Rightfully considered a short story masterpiece, "The Dead" tells the tale of a man (Gabriel) who, at a party hosted by his aunts in Dublin in the early part of the 20th century, has a moment of self-realization and spiritual awakening when his wife tells him about a relationship she had as a young girl with a youth who loved her passionately. James Joyce's elegant story details the New Year's Eve gathering as so evocative and beautiful that it prompted Gabriel's wife to make a shocking revelation to her husband, closing the story with an emotionally powerful epiphany that is unsurpassed in modern literature. A beautifully written story by a masterful author, the ending paragraphs in "The Dead" are some of the most haunting and lyrical in all of literature.