ALCStudies Journal

April 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Ireland. Between January and then we had planned to present  (roughly) weekly audio readings on this page from the entire text of James Joyce’s The Dead. The story, which Joyce wrote ca. 1904, anticipates the event and the dynamics around the drive for Irish independence.

The Easter Rising looms in significance beyond the brief one week of its existence. The following years of bloodshed lasted from 1916 through civil war in the 1920s and Troubles of the 1960s through 1990s, until the Belfast Agreement was finally signed on Good Friday 1998. The 100th anniversary marks an occasion for celebrating the peace in Ireland, as well as mourning losses still within living memory. For further anniversary coverage, please see the Irish Times.  — CDL