Festive Story: James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’

photo © keka marzagao, 2010

The Dead

by James Joyce

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Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry behind the office on the ground floor and helped him off with his overcoat than the wheezy hall door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest. It was well for her she had not to attend to the ladies also. But Miss Kate and Miss Julia had thought of that and had converted the bathroom upstairs into a ladies’ dressing room. Miss Kate and Miss Julia were there, gossiping and laughing and fussing, walking after each other to the head of the stairs, peering down over the banisters and calling down to Lily to ask her who had come…

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Download and read the full festive story:

The Dead

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James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1882. ‘The Dead’ was published in his 1914 collection of short stories, Dubliners. You can read more about Joyce’s writing in John Verling’s recent THRESHOLDS feature, ‘Dubliners at Christmastime‘.