The Dead

At a Christmas party, a revelation shatters a man's complacency forever

At a winter gathering in Dublin, friends and family come together for an evening of music, conversation and ritual. As the night unfolds, small tensions surface, and a chance revelation alters one man’s understanding of his life and his marriage. The Dead is James Joyce’s masterful story of memory, loss and awakening. 

Often cited as the best work of short fiction ever written, Joyce's elegant story details a New Year's Eve gathering in Dublin that is so evocative and beautiful that it prompts the protagonist's wife to make a shocking revelation to her husband—closing the story with an emotionally powerful epiphany.