Abstract
Most of Joyce's readers know that Henrik Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken provided him with the rough outlines for his only play, Exiles. But Ibsen's donation to the younger man went beyond a literary model or two to a broader philosophy of composition. This included the significant possibility of a protagonist radically different from the traditional fictional hero. Ibsen's influence in this matter ran deep: we can trace it all the way back to Joyce's first formal publication, an essay-review of When We Dead Awaken, which appeared in the Fortnightly Review of April 1, 1900.1 The piece consists mainly of a plot summary of Ibsen's new work, but between this lengthy exposition and a few closing words on characterization, Joyce does devote one paragraph to a critical overview. He remarks,
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