The important role of music and the overall ambiance of the story have inspired several theatrical reproductions. Additionally Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, whom Gabriel offends in the opening scene, could be a reference to the flower often associated with the Virgin Mary. Gabriel’s brother Constantine is a reference to Constantine the Great, a Roman Emperor who brought Christianity to the forefront of religious life.

Biblical characters are said to have inspired many of the names Joyce chose in “The Dead.” The main character, Gabriel, could be a reference to the archangel Gabriel, who announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias and warns Mary of the coming of the Messiah. Joyce seems to have sprinkled in numerous Biblical references in this story, which is set just before the Christian holiday of the Epiphany. Joyce was always a heavy drinker, and he died in 1941 from complications after having surgery on a perforated ulcer.īiblical Inspiration. Joyce continued writing after Ulysses, producing the even more avant-garde Finnegans Wake in 1939. Two years earlier, Joyce had published Dubliners, his first book, which was a collection of 15 short stories, including “The Dead.” These books brought Joyce some fame as a Modernist writer, a fame that only increased after the publication of Ulysses (1922), which upon release was both hailed as a masterpiece and banned in numerous countries for indecency. Joyce received guidance from the poet Ezra Pound, who helped him publish his first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in 1916. Joyce only returned to Dublin four times, but many of his works remain heavily focused on the city, and on Ireland more generally. After meeting his wife, the couple left Dublin and lived in a variety of countries including Yugoslavia and Italy, and later fled to Zurich during World War I. In 1903, just one year later, Joyce’s mother got sick and he moved back to Dublin to take care of her.

After college, he moved to Paris where he briefly studied medicine. James Joyce grew up in Rathgar, a suburb of Dublin, and studied at University College, where he began to publish literary reviews, poems, and plays.

James joyce dubliners the dead