The Dead House is alive

Brendan Kilty
Usher's Island

Brendan Kilty, storyteller and owner of 15 Usher's Island talks us through the dark gaunt house on Usher's Island that provides the hospitable setting for the main action of James Joyce's greatest short story, The Dead.

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The Dead House is alive Location

More about this story

For the making of The Dead John Heuston had the dimensions of this house precisely mapped so that it could be recreated perfectly in a studio. Walking around the house is an absolute delight and it's one of the most interesting spots in the city. Joyce's 'The Dead' used the location for the greatest fictional meal in 20th century literature - where Gabriel Conroy attends a christmas dinner with his aunts. The story was intended to display the sense of hospitality in Irish culture, a glimmer of positivity in the otherwise negative portrait of the city in Dubliners.