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- Family enjoying a Christmas feast. (Leemage/UIG via Getty Images/Getty)
- A fat brown goose lay at one end of the table and at the other end, on a bed of creased paper strewn with sprigs of parsley, lay a great ham…there was a great deal of confusion and laughter and noise, the noise of orders and counter-orders, of knives and forks, of corks and glass-stoppers.— James Joyce, "The Dead"
Cynthia Nixon presents the first of two programs devoted to a reading of James Joyce’s memorable story, “The Dead.”
“The Dead” takes place at a New Year’s dinner-dance in Dublin in 1904. It is filled with colorful characters, wonderful period detail, and is both humorous and poignant.
The hostesses of the annual dinner are the Misses Kate and Julia Morkan, the elderly aunts of the story’s central character, Gabriel Conroy. In this first part of the story, the Morkan’s house is filling up with family and friends, dancing is under way, and Gabriel is looking forward to carving the goose, but not to giving an after-dinner speech.
“The Dead,” is the final work in Joyce’s famous collection of short stories, Dubliners, which depicts the lives of different people living in and around Dublin, Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. The book was published 100 years ago this year, and Cynthia Nixon read the first part of “The Dead” at an evening at Symphony Space celebrating the anniversary.
“The Dead,” by James Joyce, Part 1. Performed by Cynthia Nixon.
The SELECTED SHORTS theme is David Peterson's “That's the Deal,” performed by the Deardorf/Peterson Group.
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit http://www.symphonyspace.org/events/series/71/selected-shorts
We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org
