ABSTRACT
James Joyce's stories are admittedly imbued with the odour of ashpits, old weeds, and offal because the narrative point of view, the style of Dubliners embodies the sordidness it depicts. In Dubliners, the sad misunderstanding between Icarus and Daedalus, which is the very signature of Joyce's thinking, is the futility of modernism. Joyce's writing of The Dead, and the revision of Stephen Hero into A Portrait, reveal how Joyce worked his way out of the futility of modernism. Joyce contrasts the uncompromising discipline of his work with Irish paralysis, and his intention to write a chapter of moral history, with the indifference of the general public. The Dead is Joyce's first attempt at imagining a non-sacrificial society. The tone of the last section, balanced between fear of the loss of differences, and the joy of at last merging with Ireland and all its people, urges to identify with all the living and the dead.
