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So speaks James Joyce's character Gabriel Conroy, favorite nephew of the Misses Kate and Julia Morkan, in his after-dinner address to their annual Epiphany dinner. As we read and reflect upon Joyce's short story "The Dead," can we conclude that we too live in a "thought-tormented age?" Is Conroy's "conservative" answer, recurrence to "the tradition of genuine warm-hearted courteous Irish hospitality, which our forefathers have handed down to us and which we must hand down to our descendants," a sufficient answer? What are we to make of the fact that Conroy himself seems to be cut loose from the traditions he praises, himself a "man without a country," so to speak?

Please join us for what is sure to be a lively discussion co-moderated by and Lunch will be served.

For a copy of James Joyce's The Dead" -- from the collection Dubliners or telephone at (202) 974-2424.