Online Module
James Joyce’s Short Story “The Dead”
Fr., Aug. 30th - Mo., Sep. 9th
We will have no face-to-face class meetings on the following five days during Fall Semester 2019: Fr., Aug. 30th • Mo., Sep. 2nd (Labor Day) • We., Sep. 4th • Fr., Sep. 6th • Mo., Sep. 9th. Instead, those sessions will occur online, using this webpage to deliver the content. The first task is to read James Joyce’s internationally famous short story “The Dead” (set in 1904; written in 1907; first published in 1914). Other tasks include: listening to short podcasts while answering Folio-based multiple-choice questions about the artifacts; and studying a set of illustrated lecture notes prior to answering Folio-based multiple-choice questions that reinforce the learning outcomes for the lectures. All the Folio-based quizzes are open-book!
The reason for the above circumstance is your instructor’s having to be out of the country in association with the opening of Georgia Southern University’s first ever International Learning Hub: a teaching and research facility in Wexford Town, a coastal town in southeastern Ireland that the Vikings founded around 800 CE. Your instructor was critical to producing this outcome, for which he has so far secured approximately $800,000 in funding. His early-September trip will be conducted along with GS President Marrero and GS Provost Reiber. Also in the delegation will be senior officials from the following five entities: (1) the Savannah Economic Development Authority; (2) Visit Savannah; (3) the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport Authority; (4) the State of Georgia Department of Economic Development; and (5) the State of Georgia Department of Agriculture (“Georgia Grown”).
Day-by-Day Tasks
The specific tasks for each of the five sessions are detailed below. However, it is useful to summarize them here. Session 1 (Fr., Aug. 30th) requires you to read James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” thoroughly and attentively. Regarded by some critics as a novella (as opposed to a short story), “The Dead” is the fifteenth, longest, and final tale in Joyce’s collection of short stories, Dubliners. The action in “The Dead” likely occurs on January 5th and 6th, 1904. While Joyce authored the tale in 1907, it did not appear in print until the publication of Dubliners in 1914, the year that the Great War (World War I) began.
For Session 2 (We., Sep. 4th): listen to the first three in a series of short podcasts about “The Dead,” answering as you go a Folio-based set of 20 multiple-choice comprehension questions focused on the podcasts. For Session 3 (Fr., Sep. 6th): study an illustrated document with lecture notes (Notes #1) about important aspects of “The Dead,” answering afterwards a Folio-based set of 30 multiple-choice comprehension questions focused on the lecture notes.
For Session 4 (Mo., Sep. 9th): listen to the last three in a series of short podcasts about “The Dead,” answering as you go a Folio-based set of 20 multiple-choice comprehension questions focused on the podcasts.
Our live, classroom-based instruction recommences in Room 1004 of the Information Technology Building (Statesboro Campus) at 9:05 am on We., Sep. 11th; however, your homework assignment in connection with that day’s class continues online, as Session 5. For Session 5 (We., Sep. 11th): study an illustrated document with lecture notes (Notes #2) about important aspects of “The Dead,” answering afterwards a Folio-based set of 30 multiple-choice comprehension questions focused on the lecture notes.
Available on our course Folio page, the multiple-choice, open-book quizzes associated with Item 2 (20 questions) and Item 3 (30 questions) remain open until 11:00 pm on Th., Sep. 12th, 2019.
Available on our course Folio page, the multiple-choice, open-book quizzes associated with Item 4 (20 questions) and Item 5 (30 questions) remain open until 11:00 pm on Sa., Sep. 14th, 2019.
Session One (of Five)
Fr., Aug. 30th \ Read “The Dead”
With care, read James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” (written in 1907; first published in 1914). You have two options for reading it. Choose one or the other.
First Option • Read the story without notes — i.e. in a straight-up, uninterrupted format — on a single webpage from the University of Adelaide in Australia. Here is the artifact: James Joyce’s “The Dead” as a webpage. The link opens in a new window.
Second Option • Read the story on a PDF in a version with explanatory notes, produced by your instructor. Here is the artifact: James Joyce’s “The Dead” as a PDF. The link opens in a new window.
You absolutely must read the story. However, in addition to reading it, you may find it useful to listen to a reading of it in unabridged (i.e. full-length) form. The reader is the acclaimed Irish actor Barry McGovern, who has been a guest of the Center for Irish Research and Teaching at Georgia Southern University. Here is the artifact: Barry McGovern reads Joyce’s “The Dead” (via Stitcher). The link opens in a new window.
No Work Assigned for Monday, September 2nd, 2019 • Labor Day Federal Holiday • University Closed
Session Two (of Five)
We., Sep. 4th \ Listen to Podcasts 1 through 3
Also: Answer 20 Folio-Based Multiple-Choice Questions about Podcasts 1 through 3 (Open-Book Format)
University College Dublin (UCD), a unit of the National University of Ireland, has produced a series of six high-value podcasts about different aspects of Joyce’s “The Dead.” The overall title for the series is Joyce’s Dublin: An Exploration of “The Dead.” This task requires you to listen to the first three podcasts (also called episodes) in order, from first to third. The podcasts are available on a single webpage from UCD’s Humanities Institute. Here are the artifacts: Podcasts 1 through 3 about Joyce’s “The Dead.” The link opens in a new window. Some of the interpretations offered in the podcasts may differ from views about “The Dead” presented in our course lectures (which feature elsewhere as PDFs).
As you listen to Podcasts 1 through 3, visit our course Folio page and attempt the 20-question multiple-choice quiz that cover those artifacts. The “open-book” quiz is not time-limited; however, the course permits just one attempt per student to take it. The quiz is “live” and, thus, available only until 11:00 pm Eastern on Thursday, September 12th, 2019. After that hour, it closes.
The titles of the podcasts that you must listen to are as follows:
Podcast or Episode 1 • 15 Usher’s Island: Joyce’s Dublin, 1904 • Note: Most likely, the story is set in 1904 (although written in 1907)
Podcast or Episode 2 • “The Dead”: Why the Story Resonates
Podcast or Episode 3 • “The Dead”: Looking East or West?
Session Three (of Five)
Fr., Sep. 6th \ Study Lecture Notes #1
Also: Answer 30 Folio-Based Multiple-Choice Questions about Lecture Notes #1 (Open-Book Format)
Once you’ve read the entirety of James Joyce’s short story “The Dead,” listened to the three assigned podcasts (numbered 1 through 3), and taken the open-book quiz about those podcasts, you are ready to study our first formal lecture. The lecture is presented in written form, along with several useful images. The lecture deals with just some aspects of “The Dead.” A subsequent lecture will address other elements of the story. Here is the lecture that you need to study: First Lecture about Joyce’s “The Dead” as a PDF. The link opens in a new window.
This lecture covers the following four matters:
• An overview of the story’s basic plot.
• A discussion of the story’s incipit (or opening) with reference to the Uncle Charles Principle.
• Framed by Ireland’s colonial status with the British Empire, an exploration of the character Lily’s anxiety about “[t]he men that is now.”
• An argument that the principal character, Gabriel Conroy, may have a secret life as a member of a revolutionary organization: the Irish Republican Brotherhood (also referred to as the Fenians).
While studying the first lecture (Lecture Notes #1) about Joyce’s “The Dead,” you need to go to the course Folio page and attempt a 30-question multiple-choice exam about its contents. While no time limit exists, the course allows you just one attempt at the quiz, which is designed to connect you to key learning outcomes. The quiz is “live” and available to take only until 11:00 pm Eastern on Thursday, September 12th, 2019. After that hour, it closes.
Session Four (of Five)
Mo., Sep. 9th \ Listen to Podcasts 4 through 6
Also: Answer 20 Folio-Based Multiple-Choice Questions about Podcasts 4 through 6 (Open-Book Format)
University College Dublin (UCD), a unit of the National University of Ireland, has produced a series of six high-value podcasts about different aspects of Joyce’s “The Dead.” The overall title for the series is Joyce’s Dublin: An Exploration of “The Dead.” This task requires you to listen to the last three podcasts (also called episodes) in order, from fourth to sixth. The podcasts are available on a single webpage from UCD’s Humanities Institute. Here are the artifacts: Podcasts 4 through 6 about Joyce’s “The Dead.” The link opens in a new window. Some of the interpretations offered in the podcasts may differ from views about “The Dead” presented in our course lectures (which feature elsewhere as PDFs).
As you listen to Podcasts 4 through 6, visit our course Folio page and attempt the 20-question multiple-choice quiz that cover those artifacts. The “open-book” quiz is not time-limited; however, the course permits just one attempt per student to take it. The quiz is “live” and, thus, available only until 11:00 pm Eastern on Saturday, September 14th, 2019. After that hour, it closes.
The titles of the podcasts that you must listen to are as follows:
Podcast or Episode 4 • “The Dead”: Distant Music and “The Lass of Aughrim”
Podcast or Episode 5 • “The Dead”: Sex, Love, and Longing at the Gresham Hotel
Podcast or Episode 6 • “The Dead”: A Walking Tour with Barry McGovern
Session Five (of Five)
We., Sep. 11th \ Study Lecture Notes #2
Also: Answer 30 Folio-Based Multiple-Choice Questions about Lecture Notes #2 (Open-Book Format)
As we enter the final phase of our engagement with James Joyce’s short story “The Dead,” our second formal lecture beckons! The lecture is presented in written form, along with several useful images. The lecture deals with just some aspects of “The Dead.” Here is the lecture that you need to study: Second Lecture about Joyce’s “The Dead” as a PDF. The link opens in a new window.
This lecture covers the following five matters:
• Dating the action in the tale to late on January 5th and early on January 6th, 1904.
• A discussion of Joyce’s exploitation of the conceit of Epiphany to frame the story’s interrogation of its chief protagonist, Gabriel Conroy.
• An exploration of the significance to “The Dead” of Irish land-and-house nationalism, especially the socio-economically revolutionary Wyndham Land Act, which came into effect on November 1st, 1903.
• An argument that while a Gaeilge (Irish-language) word for blessing features explicitly in the short story, the narrative also implies and exploits a Gaeilge word translatable as curse.
• A thesis that Gretta all but reveals to Gabriel that, before their marriage, she not only dated Michael Furey but also bore his child.
While studying the second lecture (Lecture Notes #2) about Joyce’s “The Dead,” you need to go to the course Folio page and attempt a 30-question multiple-choice exam about its contents. While no time limit exists, the course allows you just one attempt at the quiz, which is designed to connect you to key learning outcomes. The quiz is “live” and available to take only until 11:00 pm Eastern on Saturday, September 14th, 2019. After that hour, it closes.
