Hugh Kenner argues that Frank has no intention of taking Eveline to Buenos Aires and will seduce and abandon her in Liverpool, where the boat is actually headed. Since “going to Buenos Aires” was slang for “taking up a life of prostitution”, it appears that Frank does intend to take Eveline to Buenos Aires, but not to make her his wife.
That Eveline’s print of the 12 promises made by the Sacred Heart hangs over a “broken” harmonium confirms the close similarity between the two suitors. In “Circe”, the Sacred Heart devotion is concisely parodied in the apparition of Martha Clifford, Bloom’s pen pal. She calls Bloom a “heartless flirt” and accuses him of “breach of promise”.
Media adaptations
Hugh Leonard adapted six stories as Dublin One, which was staged at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 1963.
In 1987, John Huston directed a film adaptation of “The Dead”, written for the screen by his son Tony and starring his daughter Anjelica as Mrs. Conroy.
In October 1998, BBC Radio 4 broadcast dramatisations by various writers of “A Painful Case”, “After the Race”, “Two Gallants”, “The Boarding House”, “A Little Cloud”, and “Counterparts”. The series ended with a dramatization of “The Dead”, which was first broadcast in 1994 under the title “Distant Music”.
The broadcasts were accompanied by nighttime abridged readings of other stories from Dubliners, starting with “Ivy Day in the Committee Room” (in two parts, read by T. P. McKenna), and continuing with “The Sisters”, “An Encounter”, “Araby”, “Eveline”, and “Clay” (all read by Barry McGovern).
In 1999, a short film adaptation of “Araby” was produced and directed by Dennis Courtney.
In 2000, a Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of “The Dead” premiered, written by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey and directed by Nelson.
In April 2012, Stephen Rea read “The Dead” on RTÉ Radio 1.
In February 2014, Stephen Rea read all fifteen stories spread across twenty 13-minute segments of Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4.
In July 2014, Irish actor Carl Finnegan released a modern retelling of “Two Gallants” as a short film. Finnegan wrote the script with Darren McGrath and also produced, directed, and performed the role of Corley in the film.
In May 2023, Irish folk music act Hibsen released the album The Stern Task of Living, inspired by Dubliners. The 15-track album by duo Gráinne Hunt and Jim Murphy follows the sequence of the stories in the novel, with each song based on the story after which it is named.
