''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the
first novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
of Irish writer
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
. A ''
Künstlerroman
A ''Künstlerroman'' (; plural ''-ane''), meaning "artist's novel" in English, is a narrative about an artist's growth to maturity.Werlock, James P. (2010The Facts on File companion to the American short story Volume 2, p.387 It could be classifie ...
'' written in a
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young
Stephen Dedalus
Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce's literary alter ego, appearing as the protagonist and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographic novel of artistic existence ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and an important character in Joyce' ...
, Joyce's fictional alter ego, whose surname alludes to
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...
,
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
's consummate craftsman. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe. The work uses techniques that Joyce developed more fully in ''
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
'' (1922) and ''
Finnegans Wake
''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...
'' (1939).
''A Portrait'' began life in 1904 as ''
Stephen Hero
''Stephen Hero'' is a posthumously published autobiographical novel by Irish author James Joyce. Its published form reflects only a portion of an original manuscript, part of which was lost. Many of its ideas were used in composing ''A Portrait ...
''—a projected 63-chapter autobiographical novel in a realistic style. After 25 chapters, Joyce abandoned ''Stephen Hero'' in 1907 and set to reworking its themes and protagonist into a condensed five-chapter novel, dispensing with strict realism and making extensive use of
free indirect speech
Free indirect speech is a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech; it is also referred to as free indirect discourse, free indirect style, or, in ...
that allows the reader to peer into Stephen's developing consciousness. American modernist poet
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
had the novel serialised in the English literary magazine ''
The Egoist
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' in 1914 and 1915, and published as a book in 1916 by
B. W. Huebsch
Benjamin W. Huebsch (March 21, 1876 – August 7, 1964) was an American publisher in New York City in the early 20th century.
Background
Huebsch was the son of Rabbi Adolphus Huebsch, who had immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1866 ...
of New York. The publication of ''A Portrait'' and the short story collection ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writt ...
'' (1914) earned Joyce a place at the forefront of literary modernism.
Background
![James Joyce by Alex Ehrenzweig, 1915 cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/James_Joyce_by_Alex_Ehrenzweig%2C_1915_cropped.jpg)
Born into a middle-class family in Dublin, Ireland, James Joyce (1882–1941) excelled as a student, graduating from University College, Dublin, in 1902. He moved to Paris to study medicine, but soon gave it up. He returned to Ireland at his family's request as his mother was dying of cancer. Despite her pleas, the impious Joyce and his brother
Stanislaus refused to make confession or take communion, and when she passed into a coma they refused to kneel and pray for her.
After a stretch of failed attempts to get published and launch his own newspaper, Joyce then took jobs teaching, singing and reviewing books.
Joyce made his first attempt at a novel, ''Stephen Hero'', in early 1904.
That June he saw
Nora Barnacle
Nora Barnacle (21 March 1884 – 10 April 1951) was the muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic assignation in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as the "Bloomsday" of his modernist novel '' ...
for the first time walking along Nassau Street.
Their first date was on June 16, the same date that his novel ''Ulysses'' takes place.
Almost immediately, Joyce and Nora were infatuated with each other and they bonded over their shared disapproval of Ireland and the Church.
Nora and Joyce eloped to
continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
, first staying in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
before settling for ten years in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
(then in
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
), where he taught English. In March 1905, Joyce was transferred to the Berlitz School In Trieste, presumably because of threats of spies in Austria.
There Nora gave birth to their children, George in 1905 and Lucia in 1907, and Joyce wrote fiction, signing some of his early essays and stories "Stephen ". The short stories he wrote made up the collection ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writt ...
'' (1914), which took about eight years to be published due to its controversial nature.
While waiting on ''Dubliners'' to be published, Joyce reworked the core themes of the novel ''Stephen Hero'' he had begun in Ireland in 1904 and abandoned in 1907 into ''A Portrait'', published in 1916, a year after he had moved back to Zürich in the midst of the First World War.
Composition
![James Joyce in 1915](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/James_Joyce_in_1915.jpg)
At the request of its editors, Joyce submitted a work of philosophical fiction entitled "A Portrait of the Artist" to the Irish literary magazine ''Dana'' on 7 January 1904. ''Danas editor,
W. K. Magee, rejected it, telling Joyce, "I can't print what I can't understand." On his 22nd birthday, 2 February 1904, Joyce began a realist autobiographical novel, ''
Stephen Hero
''Stephen Hero'' is a posthumously published autobiographical novel by Irish author James Joyce. Its published form reflects only a portion of an original manuscript, part of which was lost. Many of its ideas were used in composing ''A Portrait ...
'', which incorporated aspects of the aesthetic philosophy expounded in ''A Portrait''. He worked on the book until mid-1905 and brought the manuscript with him when he moved to Trieste that year. Though his main attention turned to the stories that made up ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writt ...
'', Joyce continued work on ''Stephen Hero''. At 914 manuscript pages, Joyce considered the book about half-finished, having completed 25 of its 63 intended chapters.
[Bulson (2006:47)] In September 1907, however, he abandoned this work, and began a complete revision of the text and its structure, producing what became ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. By 1909 the work had taken shape and Joyce showed some of the draft chapters to
Ettore Schmitz, one of his language students, as an exercise. Schmitz, himself a respected writer, was impressed and with his encouragement Joyce continued to work on the book.
![A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man.jpg)
In 1911 Joyce flew into a fit of rage over the continued refusals by publishers to print ''Dubliners'' and threw the manuscript of ''Portrait'' into the fire. It was saved by a "family fire brigade" including his sister Eileen.
''
Chamber Music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
'', a book of Joyce's poems, was published in 1907.
Joyce showed, in his own words, "a scrupulous meanness" in his use of materials for the novel. He recycled the two earlier attempts at explaining his aesthetics and youth, ''A Portrait of the Artist'' and ''Stephen Hero'', as well as his notebooks from Trieste concerning the philosophy of
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
; they all came together in five carefully paced chapters.
''Stephen Hero'' is written from the point of view of an omniscient third-person narrator, but in ''Portrait'' Joyce adopts the
free indirect style, a change that reflects the moving of the narrative centre of consciousness firmly and uniquely onto Stephen. Persons and events take their significance from Stephen, and are perceived from his point of view.
[Johnson (2000:xvii)] Characters and places are no longer mentioned simply because the young Joyce had known them. Salient details are carefully chosen and fitted into the aesthetic pattern of the novel.
Publication history
In 1913,
W. B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
sent the poem ''I Hear an Army'' by James Joyce to
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
, who was assembling an anthology of
Imagist
Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. ...
verse entitled ''
Des Imagistes
''Des Imagistes: An Anthology'', edited by Ezra Pound and published in 1914, was the first anthology of the Imagism movement. It was published in ''The Glebe'' in February 1914, and later that year as a book by Charles and Albert Boni in New Yo ...
''. Pound wrote to Joyce, and in 1914 Joyce submitted the first chapter of the unfinished ''Portrait'' to Pound, who was so taken with it that he pressed to have the work serialised in the London literary magazine ''
The Egoist
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''. Joyce hurried to complete the novel, and it appeared in ''The Egoist'' in twenty-five installments from 2 February 1914 to 1 September 1915.
There was difficulty finding a British publisher for the finished novel, so Pound arranged for its publication by an American publishing house,
B. W. Huebsch
Benjamin W. Huebsch (March 21, 1876 – August 7, 1964) was an American publisher in New York City in the early 20th century.
Background
Huebsch was the son of Rabbi Adolphus Huebsch, who had immigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1866 ...
, which issued it on 29 December 1916. The Egoist Press republished it in the United Kingdom on 12 February 1917 and
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
took over its publication in 1924. In 1964
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...
issued a corrected version overseen by
Chester Anderson
Chester Valentine John Anderson (August 11, 1932 – April 11, 1991) was an American novelist, poet, and editor in the underground press.
Biography
Raised in Florida, he attended the University of Miami from 1952 to 1956, before becoming a ...
that drew upon Joyce's manuscript, list of corrections, and marginal corrections to proof sheets. This edition is "Widely regarded as reputable and the 'standard' edition." As of 2004, the fourth printing of the Everyman's Library edition, the Bedford edition, and the Oxford World's Classics edition used this text.
Garland
A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance.
Etymology
From the ...
released a "copy text" edition by Hans Walter Gabler in 1993.
Major characters
*
Stephen Dedalus
Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce's literary alter ego, appearing as the protagonist and antihero of his first, semi-autobiographic novel of artistic existence ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and an important character in Joyce' ...
– The main character of ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. Growing up, Stephen goes through long phases of hedonism and deep religiosity. He eventually adopts a philosophy of aestheticism, greatly valuing beauty and art. Stephen is essentially Joyce's alter ego, and many of the events of Stephen's life mirror events from Joyce's own youth.
His surname is taken from the ancient Greek mythical figure
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...
, who also engaged in a struggle for autonomy.
* Simon Dedalus – Stephen's father, an impoverished former medical student with a strong sense of Irish nationalism. Sentimental about his past, Simon Dedalus frequently reminisces about his youth.
Loosely based on Joyce's own father and their relationship.
* Mary Dedalus – Stephen's mother who is very religious and often argues with Stephen about attending services.
* Emma Clery – Stephen's beloved, the young girl to whom he is fiercely attracted over the course of many years. Stephen constructs Emma as an ideal of femininity, even though (or because) he does not know her well.
*
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
– An Irish political leader who is not an actual character in the novel, but whose death influences many of its characters. Parnell had powerfully led the Irish Parliamentary Party until he was driven out of public life after his affair with a married woman was exposed.
* Cranly – Stephen's best friend at university, in whom he confides some of his thoughts and feelings. In this sense Cranly represents a secular confessor for Stephen. Eventually Cranly begins to encourage Stephen to conform to the wishes of his family and to try harder to fit in with his peers, advice that Stephen fiercely resents. Towards the conclusion of the novel he bears witness to Stephen's exposition of his aesthetic philosophy. It is partly due to Cranly that Stephen decides to leave, after witnessing Cranly's budding (and reciprocated) romantic interest in Emma.
* Dante (Mrs. Riordan) – The governess of the Dedalus children. She is very intense and a dedicated Catholic.
* Lynch – Stephen's friend from university who has a rather dry personality.
Synopsis
The childhood of Stephen Dedalus is recounted using vocabulary that changes as he grows, in a voice not his own but sensitive to his feelings. The reader experiences Stephen's fears and bewilderment as he comes to terms with the world in a series of disjointed episodes. Stephen attends the
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
-run
Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...
, where the apprehensive, intellectually gifted boy suffers the ridicule of his classmates while he learns the schoolboy codes of behaviour. While he cannot grasp their significance, at a Christmas dinner he is witness to the social, political and religious tensions in Ireland involving
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
, which drive wedges between members of his family, leaving Stephen with doubts over which social institutions he can place his faith in. Back at Clongowes, word spreads that a number of older boys have been caught “smugging” (the term refers to the secret homosexual horseplay that five students were caught at); discipline is tightened, and the Jesuits increase use of
corporal punishment. Stephen is strapped when one of his instructors believes he has broken his glasses to avoid studying, but, prodded by his classmates, Stephen works up the courage to complain to the
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
, Father Conmee, who assures him there will be no such recurrence, leaving Stephen with a sense of triumph.
Stephen's father gets into debt and the family leaves its pleasant suburban home to live in Dublin. Stephen realises that he will not return to Clongowes. However, thanks to a scholarship obtained for him by Father Conmee, Stephen is able to attend
Belvedere College
Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business.
History
Belvedere owes its origin ...
, where he excels academically and becomes a class leader. Stephen squanders a large cash prize from school, and begins to see prostitutes, as distance grows between him and his drunken father.
![DollymountStrand 3647w](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/DollymountStrand_3647w.JPG)
As Stephen abandons himself to sensual pleasures, his class is taken on a religious retreat, where the boys sit through sermons. Stephen pays special attention to those on pride, guilt, punishment and the
Four Last Things
In Christian eschatology, the Four Last Things or four last things of man ( la , quattuor novissima) are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife. They are often commended as a collective t ...
(death, judgement, Hell, and Heaven). He feels that the words of the sermon, describing horrific eternal punishment in hell, are directed at himself and, overwhelmed, comes to desire forgiveness. Overjoyed at his return to the Church, he devotes himself to acts of ascetic repentance, though they soon devolve to mere acts of routine, as his thoughts turn elsewhere. His devotion comes to the attention of the Jesuits, and they encourage him to consider entering the priesthood. Stephen takes time to consider, but has a crisis of faith because of the conflict between his spiritual beliefs and his aesthetic ambitions. Along
Dollymount Strand he spots a girl wading, and has an epiphany in which he is overcome with the desire to find a way to express her beauty in his writing.
As a student at
University College, Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
, Stephen grows increasingly wary of the institutions around him: Church, school, politics and family. In the midst of the disintegration of his family's fortunes his father berates him and his mother urges him to return to the Church. An increasingly dry, humourless Stephen explains his alienation from the Church and the aesthetic theory he has developed to his friends, who find that they cannot accept either of them. Stephen concludes that Ireland is too restricted to allow him to express himself fully as an artist, so he decides that he will have to leave. He sets his mind on self-imposed exile, but not without declaring in his diary his ties to his homeland:
Style
The novel is a
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
and captures the essence of character growth and understanding of the world around him. The novel mixes
third-person narrative
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
with
free indirect speech
Free indirect speech is a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech; it is also referred to as free indirect discourse, free indirect style, or, in ...
, which allows both identification with and distance from Stephen. The narrator refrains from judgement. The
omniscient narrator
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
of the earlier ''Stephen Hero'' informs the reader as Stephen sets out to write "some pages of sorry verse," while ''Portrait'' gives only Stephen's attempts, leaving the evaluation to the reader.
The novel is written primarily as a
third-person narrative
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
with minimal dialogue until the final chapter. This chapter includes dialogue-intensive scenes alternately involving Stephen, Davin and Cranly. An example of such a scene is the one in which Stephen posits his complex
Thomist
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions a ...
aesthetic theory in an extended dialogue. Joyce employs first-person narration for Stephen's diary entries in the concluding pages of the novel, perhaps to suggest that Stephen has finally found his own voice and no longer needs to absorb the stories of others. Joyce fully employs the free indirect style to demonstrate Stephen's intellectual development from his childhood, through his education, to his increasing independence and ultimate exile from Ireland as a young man. The style of the work progresses through each of its five chapters, as the complexity of language and Stephen's ability to comprehend the world around him both gradually increase.
[Bulson (2006:50)] The book's opening pages communicate Stephen's first stirrings of consciousness when he is a child. Throughout the work language is used to describe indirectly the state of mind of the protagonist and the subjective effect of the events of his life.
The writing style is notable also for Joyce's omission of quotation marks: he indicates dialogue by beginning a paragraph with a dash, as is commonly used in French, Spanish or Russian publications.
Themes
Identity
As a narrative which depicts a character throughout his formative years, M. Angeles Conde-Parrilla posits that identity is possibly the most prevalent theme in the novel. Towards the beginning of the novel, Joyce depicts the young Stephen's growing consciousness, which is said to be a condensed version of the arc of Dedalus' entire life, as he continues to grow and form his identity. Stephen's growth as an individual character is important because through him Joyce laments Irish society's tendency to force individuals to conform to types, which some say marks Stephen as a modernist character. Themes that run through Joyce's later novels find expression there.
Religion
As Stephen transitions into adulthood, he leaves behind his Catholic religious identity, which is closely tied to the national identity of Ireland.
[''“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: James Joyce, the Myth of Icarus, and the Influence of Christopher Marlowe."''] His rejection of this dual identity is also a rejection of constraint and an embrace of freedom in identity. Furthermore, the references to
Dr Faustus throughout the novel conjure up something demonic in Stephen renouncing his Catholic faith. When Stephen stoutly refuses to serve his Easter duty later in the novel, his tone mirrors characters like Faust and Lucifer in its rebelliousness.
Myth of Daedalus
The myth of
Daedalus and Icarus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...
has parallels in the structure of the novel, and gives Stephen his surname, as well as the epigraph containing a quote from Ovid's
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
. According to Ivan Canadas, the epigraph may parallel the heights and depths that end and begin each chapter, and can be seen to proclaim the interpretive freedom of the text. Stephen's surname being connected to Daedalus may also call to mind the theme of going against the status quo, as Daedalus defies the King of Crete.
Irish identity
Stephen's struggle to find identity in the novel parallels the Irish struggle for independence during the early twentieth century. He rejects any outright nationalism, and is often prejudiced toward those that use Hiberno-English, which was the marked speech patterns of the Irish rural and lower-class. However, he is also heavily concerned with his country's future and understands himself as an Irishman, which then leads him to question how much of his identity is tied up in said nationalism.
Critical reception
''A Portrait'' won Joyce a reputation for his literary skills, as well as a patron,
Harriet Shaw Weaver
Harriet Shaw Weaver (1 September 1876 – 14 October 1961) was an English political activist and a magazine editor. She was a significant patron of Irish writer James Joyce.
Life
Harriet Shaw Weaver was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the sixth of e ...
, the business manager of ''The Egoist''.
In 1917
H. G. Wells wrote that "one believes in Stephen Dedalus as one believes in few characters in fiction," while warning readers of Joyce's "
cloacal
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, a ...
obsession," his insistence on the portrayal of bodily functions that
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of the middle class in 19th-century Britain, the Victorian era.
Victorian values emerged in all classes and reached all facets of Victorian living. The values of the period—which can be ...
had banished from print.
Adaptations
A film version adapted for the screen by Judith Rascoe and directed by
Joseph Strick
Joseph Ezekiel Strick (July 6, 1923 – June 1, 2010, aged 86) was an American director, producer and screenwriter.
Life and career
Born in the Pittsburgh area town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, Strick briefly attended UCLA, then enrolled in the U.S ...
was released in 1977. It features
Bosco Hogan
John Bosco Hogan (born March 1949) is an Irish stage, film, and television actor.
He is well known as the character Dr. Michael Ryan on the television programme ''Ballykissangel''. He appeared in a minor role as convicted felon George Saden in J ...
as Stephen Dedalus and
T. P. McKenna as Simon Dedalus.
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...
plays Father Arnall, the priest whose lengthy sermon on Hell terrifies the teenage Stephen.
The first stage version was produced by Léonie Scott-Matthews at
Pentameters Theatre in 2012 using an adaptation by Tom Neill.
Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...
's stage work ''Stephen D'' is an adaptation of ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' and ''Stephen Hero''. It was first produced at the Gate Theatre during the Dublin Theatre Festival of 1962.
As of 2017 computer scientists and literature scholars at
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
are in a collaboration to create the multimedia version of this work, by charting the social networks of characters in the novel. Animations in the multimedia editions express the relation of every character in the chapter to the others.
Notes
References
Works cited
*
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Further reading (Books)
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Attridge, Derek, ed. ''The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce'', 2nd edition, Cambridge UP, 2004. .
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Bloom, Harold. ''James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. .
* Brady, Philip and James F. Carens, eds. ''Critical Essays on James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. New York: G. K. Hall, 1998. .
* Doherty, Gerald. ''Pathologies of Desire: The Vicissitudes of the Self in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. .
* Empric, Julienne H. ''The Woman in the Portrait: The Transforming Female in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1997. .
* Epstein, Edmund L. ''The Ordeal of Stephen Dedalus: The Conflict of Generations in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1971. .
* Gottfried, Roy K. ''Joyce's Comic Portrait''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. .
* Hancock, Leslie. ''Word Index to James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist''. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1967.
* Harkness, Marguerite. ''Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Voices of the Text''. Boston: Twayne, 1989. .
* Morris, William E. and Clifford A. Nault, eds. ''Portraits of an Artist: A Casebook on James Joyce's Portrait''. New York: Odyssey, 1962.
* Scholes, Robert and Richard M. Kain, eds. ''The Workshop of Daedalus: James Joyce and the Raw Materials for A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1965.
* Seed, David. ''James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. .
* Staley, Thomas F. and Bernard Benstock, ed. ''Approaches to Joyce's Portrait: Ten Essays''. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976. .
* Thornton, Weldon. ''The Antimodernism of Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1994. .
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* Wollaeger, Mark A., ed. ''James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: A Casebook''. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2003. .
* Yoshida, Hiromi. ''Joyce & Jung: The "Four Stages of Eroticism" in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''. 2nd edition. New York: Peter Lang, 2022. .
External links
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Digitized copy of the first editionfrom
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
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Study guidefrom
SparkNotes
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man''at the British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, A
1916 debut novels
1916 novels
Irish autobiographical novels
Irish novels adapted into films
Künstlerroman
Modernist novels
Novels about writers
Novels by James Joyce
Novels first published in serial form
Novels set in Dublin (city)
Works originally published in The Egoist (periodical)