Illustration of a man resembling James Joyce wearing a hat and glasses

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

by James Joyce

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Places Discussed

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*University College

*University College. Roman Catholic university in Dublin, as opposed to Trinity College, which was reserved for the Protestant elite. This is the site where Stephen Dedalus and his friends have long, involved discussions and arguments about topics such as art, politics, and the Catholic Church.

As at his earlier schools, Stephen is at odds, intellectually, philosophically, and religiously, with most of his fellows; however, at University College he is much better able to articulate his positions. It is here that Stephen finally renounces his Catholic faith, with his statement that he will refuse to make his Easter duty as his ailing mother has asked. In the physics theater of University College, Stephen and an elderly Jesuit priest discuss the powerful differences in language—particularly differences between English and Gaelic—that are powerful impulses in Stephen’s aspirations and actions. During this conversation, Stephen realizes the great potency words have in his life and senses that the artist who can transform reality through words is equivalent to the priest who can transmute the bread and wine during mass.

Dedalus homes

Dedalus homes. The large family of Simon and May Dedalus occupy a variety of houses and apartments in Dublin during the course of the novel. The steady decline in the richness and quality of these residences charts the descent of the Dedalus family from relative affluence to harsh poverty. In the first home, an elaborate Christmas dinner presented by servants is the scene of a dramatic political argument between Stephen’s father Simon and his aunt, Dante Riordan, over Irish politics, especially the fate of the Nationalist leader, Charles Stewart Parnell. Successive homes and their meals are smaller and less satisfying, until the family is living in less-than-genteel poverty. The decline in material richness is juxtaposed to Stephen’s growing intellectual and artistic richness and resources.

*Clongowes College

*Clongowes College. Exclusive school, run by Jesuits in County Kildare. Simon Dedalus respects the Jesuits for their ability to help their students achieve material and professional success in life. Clongowes combines classrooms, dormitories, playgrounds, and chapel. There, Stephen first experiences his artistic impulses. It is also here that he is the victim of larger, more powerful boys who mock and bully him for his physical weakness and intellectual inclinations.

*Belvedere College

*Belvedere College. More modest Catholic school to which Stephen is sent as the family’s fortunes decline. At Belvedere, Stephen attends a retreat where a visiting priest summons up terrifying visions of the eternal damnation and suffering of the tortured souls in Hell. Following these services, and after a night filled with horrible dreams, Stephen hurries to confession and dedicates himself to the Church, to the point where he seriously wonders if he has a vocation for the priesthood.

Bridge

Bridge. Structure spanning a tidal river on the coast near Dublin. While walking in this vicinity, Stephen watches a company of Christian Brothers, an order of the Catholic Church, march over the bridge. Immediately afterward, he beholds a lovely young girl, birdlike in her appearance, wading in the water. As is often the case in James Joyce’s work, water, especially the sea, symbolizes art and freedom. There, the choice clearly is between the Church and art, and Stephen’s decision to renounce the Church in favor of art is made the moment he responds to the beauty of the girl.

*Dublin

*Dublin. Capital of Ireland, although at the time of the novel the nation was not independent but part of the British Empire. Dublin forms a backdrop for much of Portrait of the Artist, especially in the scene where young Stephen wanders the streets seeking a prostitute, both to release his sexual longings and to “embrace life” in defiance of the Church and Irish morality.

Historical Context

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Joyce’s Ireland: The Historical and Political Context

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is set in Ireland during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Although Joyce does not specify exact dates in the narrative, there is a mention of a historical event (the fall of Parnell) that helps to date the story. Additionally, critics agree that the experiences of Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist, closely mirror those of Joyce himself. (In 1904, Joyce penned an autobiographical essay titled “A Portrait of the Artist.”) Joyce was born in 1882 and graduated from University College, Dublin, in 1902. These years roughly define the timeline of the novel.

Joyce grew up in an Ireland that was constitutionally part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Situated to the west of Great Britain, Ireland had its own unique customs and culture. Significantly, while Protestantism was the main religion in Great Britain, most native Irish people were Roman Catholics. However, both politically and economically, Ireland had long been dominated by Britain.

This British dominance in Ireland dates back to the Middle Ages, when Norman knights from England first arrived in Ireland at the invitation of local Irish chieftains. Over the subsequent centuries, the British presence in Ireland expanded for various reasons. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603), British settlers, mainly from Scotland, moved to Ireland and suppressed local Irish resistance. In the mid-1600s, English Parliamentary leader Oliver Cromwell further solidified British rule in Ireland. Cromwell's army ravaged the Irish countryside, displacing thousands of native Irish from their lands and persecuting Irish Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church was outlawed in 1695, but Catholic priests continued to practice in secret.

Occasionally, Irish factions rose up against British rule, but these rebellions, including a significant one in 1798, were swiftly crushed. Ironically, many leaders of these Irish nationalist movements were Irish Protestants descended from earlier British settlers. In 1800, the Irish parliament in Dublin was dissolved, and the two countries were united under a single government based in London. Despite British persecution, a strong and distinctive Irish identity persisted. By the late nineteenth century, many Irish people were advocating for a form of limited independence known as Home Rule.

The Great Famine of the 1840s resulted in the deaths or emigration of several million Irish men, women, and children—more than half of Ireland's population at the time. However, this period marked a turning point in the Irish struggle for self-determination. In 1879, a Catholic nationalist named Michael Davitt founded the Irish National Land League, which fought for the rights of Irish Catholic tenants on Protestant-owned land. Davitt is mentioned in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, along with Charles Stuart Parnell.

The events of A Portrait take place after the activities of Davitt and the fall of Parnell. Despite this, the memory of Parnell remains vivid in the novel. Joyce, who was an individualist, found himself troubled by both Ireland's nationalist politics and the rigid doctrines of the Catholic Church. He saw himself as a cosmopolitan, considering himself a citizen of Europe, if not the entire world. This perspective is clearly expressed in the final chapter of A Portrait, where Stephen Dedalus announces his intention to escape the "nets of nationality, religion, language." However, much like Stephen, Joyce was profoundly influenced by the history and religion of his homeland. It is ironic that the Irish nationalist uprising, which eventually led to Ireland's independence, occurred in 1916—the same year A Portrait was published in England. By that time, Joyce had relocated to Zurich.

Joyce’s Ireland: The Literary Context

By the time Joyce emerged as a writer, Ireland already boasted a rich and esteemed literary tradition. During the so-called Dark Ages, Irish monks played a crucial role in preserving classical knowledge, meticulously copying classical texts into beautiful manuscripts. Poets held high esteem and significant positions in the courts of Irish kings. Even during the long period of British rule, some of the greatest writers in the English language were Anglo-Irish (Irish of British descent). Notable figures included the poet and satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who was the dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin; the poet and prose writer Oliver Goldsmith (1730?-1774); the statesman and political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797); the lyricist Thomas Moore (1779-1852); the novelist Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849); and the comic writers Somerville and Ross (the pen name for Edith Somerville, 1858-1949, and Violet Martin, 1862-1915), whose stories depicted the chaotic lives of Anglo-Irish landlords and their servants and tenants in the "big houses" of rural Ireland.

By the mid-1800s, however, the literary landscape was dominated by sentimental stories and ballads of little literary significance. The late 1800s and early 1900s, the period during which A Portrait is set, witnessed the rise of the Irish Literary Revival. Key figures in this movement included Douglas Hyde (1860-1949, founder of the Gaelic League), Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932), and the playwright John Millington Synge (1871-1909). The undisputed central figure of this group was the poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Yeats almost single-handedly created a new Irish literature. By the time Joyce was an undergraduate at University College, Dublin, Yeats had become the most renowned living Irish writer. However, the works of Yeats and his contemporaries heavily featured Irish themes and subjects derived from Irish folklore and mythology.

Joyce, in contrast, had discovered the works of French authors and the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Stephen Dedalus's comments in Chapter Five of A Portrait imply that Joyce had already chosen to dismiss the celebration of Irish nationalism as a literary theme. When the young Joyce was introduced to Yeats, he remarked that the poet was already too old to assist him. Instead of writing about ancient heroes and legends, Joyce aimed to depict the lives of ordinary individuals in his early stories.

There is another significant difference between Joyce and his most famous predecessors. During a time when Protestants controlled Ireland's cultural institutions, Joyce emerged as the first major Irish Catholic writer. Although he personally rejected Roman Catholicism—a journey explored in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man—he wove his religious background into the fabric of this novel. And despite his mastery of the English language, Joyce was acutely aware that he wrote in the tongue of Ireland's oppressors.

Setting

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The release of Portrait as a book in 1916 happened to coincide with a pivotal event in modern Irish history: the Easter Rising. This uprising sparked a bloody war for independence, followed by several months of civil war in Ireland. By 1922, as a result of these conflicts, Ireland had broken free from British rule and formed the Irish Free State, which included all but the six counties of Ulster (now known as Northern Ireland). In 1949, the Free State became Eire, the Republic of Ireland. The Easter Rising began when around 1,000 citizens occupied Dublin's General Post Office and several other strategic locations in the city. They read aloud a proclamation of an Irish Republic and raised republican flags. Britain's response was swift, violent, and seemingly effective: thousands of troops were deployed in Dublin, a gunboat was stationed in the river Liffey, and bullets, shells, and incendiary bombs devastated much of the city, resulting in approximately 1,500 casualties. The rebels surrendered within five days. In the following weeks, the leaders of the Rising were executed by firing squad. These widely publicized executions provoked widespread revulsion across Ireland, turned the rebels into martyrs, and solidified public opinion against British rule. As Joyce's contemporary, playwright Sean O'Casey, remarked, "1916 became the Year One in Irish history and Irish life."

In the Ireland depicted in Portrait, set in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these events are yet to unfold. However, the powerful forces that would engulf Ireland after 1916 are already evident in Joyce's novel. Stephen's early years are an introduction to the contentious world of Irish politics during the final decades of British rule. Among his earliest memories are his nurse Dante's brushes, one of which, "the brush with the green velvet back," symbolizes Charles Stewart Parnell, a central figure in the Irish Home Rule movement whose public disgrace and death coincide with the first chapter of Joyce's novel. In 1889, the Protestant Parnell was named in a divorce case, causing a scandal that turned many Catholics against him, including Michael Davitt, a former nationalist ally represented by Dante's matching maroon brush. This scandal deeply divided the Nationalist movement at a critical time, just as a Home Rule bill seemed to have a chance of passing in the British Parliament. For many nationalists, Parnell's death in 1891 marked the end of their hopes for Home Rule. The intensity of the emotions at that time is reflected in the bitter argument between Dante, Simon Dedalus, and Mr. Casey during the disastrous Christmas dinner that occurs shortly after Parnell's death.

"History," Stephen Dedalus remarks in Ulysses, "is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." However, in the world of Portrait, there is no escape from the unresolved tensions of contemporary Irish history. Even the language that Stephen aims to craft into his art is influenced by Ireland's political climate, as demonstrated in an exchange with the English dean of studies over a single word. The priest is surprised by Stephen's use of the word "tundish" instead of the more familiar "funnel." This seemingly trivial interaction becomes a source of distress for Stephen, an aspiring writer, highlighting that it is not just Irish land that is colonized, but also Irish minds and language. "I cannot," he reflects, "speak or write these words without unrest of spirit. His language, so familiar and so foreign, will always be for me an acquired speech. I have not made or accepted its words. My voice holds them at bay. My soul frets in the shadow of his language." Filled with such political and cultural tensions, Joyce's novel is deeply rooted in its historical context.

Literary Style

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Narrative

Similar to many preceding novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man employs a third-person point of view. However, this novel deviates significantly from a conventional third-person narrative. Joyce’s narrative voice is distinct from the omniscient (all-knowing) voice typical of traditional nineteenth-century literature. Earlier authors like Charles Dickens and George Eliot focused on external details and aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of both the events they depicted and the society in which these events occurred. Joyce, in contrast, had no interest in crafting such a novel. His narrative is narrow and intensely focused; he seeks not to tell what is happening but to show events without offering explanations.

The novel lacks a conventional plot; its narrative is fragmented and discontinuous, featuring gaps in the timeline. The story centers exclusively on the main character, Stephen Dedalus, who appears on nearly every page. Every narrative detail is filtered through Stephen’s perspective. Joyce employs experimental techniques such as stream-of-consciousness and interior monologue to allow readers to see, hear, and feel Stephen’s experiences as the story progresses. This intense focus on Stephen means that most other characters are portrayed only in relation to him.

In the novel's earlier sections, Stephen is very young and unaware of the significance of the situations he encounters. The narrative mirrors Stephen’s intellectual development. For instance, at the book’s outset, Stephen is a baby or perhaps a toddler. Joyce begins the narrative with simple vocabulary, mimicking the style of a children’s story: “Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road….” Later, young Stephen witnesses a political argument during a Christmas dinner. The argument between Mr. Casey (a friend of Stephen’s father) and Stephen’s Aunt Dante is presented without commentary. Stephen does not understand the argument’s subject but feels its disturbing impact on the Christmas dinner’s harmony. However, Joyce, the author, knows that contemporary readers would recognize the argument’s significance, related to the late Irish nationalist leader Charles Stuart Parnell. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is replete with this kind of narrative duality: Joyce, the author, understands the events, the reader might grasp their importance, but the central character through whom the story unfolds often remains unaware of their full significance.

As Stephen matures, the narrative gains complexity. By the final chapter, Chapter Five, Stephen is attending University College in Dublin. This chapter largely delves into philosophical discussions about art and aesthetics. In several dialogues, Stephen articulates his thoughts, drawing from the philosophies of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Critics have noted that Stephen’s conversations in this section resemble a nonfiction philosophical treatise more than fictional dialogue.

Setting

The story unfolds in Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, covering approximately twenty years. Although Joyce specifies locations for the events in the book, he does not provide dates. However, critics recognize that Stephen Dedalus’s experiences parallel those of Joyce’s own youth and early adulthood.

Key settings include various Dedalus homes (initially outside Dublin and later within the city), the schools Stephen attends (Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare and Belvedere School in Dublin), the chapel where Father Arnall delivers his intense sermon, and University College, Dublin. Stephen also travels to Cork in southwest Ireland with his father. Both indoor and outdoor environments are depicted.

Throughout A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce offers minimal external descriptions of settings. His focus is primarily on the psychological state of his protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, rather than the external environment. Despite the lack of detailed descriptions, Joyce effectively conveys the atmosphere of places like classrooms.

Joyce, born and raised in Dublin, does not depict the city in as much detail here as he does in his short story collection Dubliners or his later novels Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Nevertheless, in A Portrait, Dublin serves as a significant physical and symbolic presence, representing the heart of Irish consciousness. Whether describing Stephen’s life at school, at home, or in various parts of Dublin and other areas of Ireland, Joyce's broader subject is always Ireland, which he portrays with a sense of ambivalence.

Structure

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is divided into five chapters. Each chapter represents a distinct period in the first twenty years of Stephen Dedalus’s life and addresses a specific theme related to his development as an artist.

Chapter One follows Stephen from his early childhood through his initial school years. During this time, Stephen becomes aware of his five senses and the concept of language, taking his first steps toward independence. Chapter Two sees him recognizing his family's financial decline and transitioning from Clongowes Wood School to Belvedere School in Dublin. This chapter concludes with his sexual initiation with a prostitute. In the third chapter, Stephen is deeply concerned about his sin and its potential consequences. The fourth chapter, set at Belvedere School, depicts Stephen's attempts to comprehend religious precepts and live accordingly. However, he realizes that his independent nature prevents him from becoming a priest, deciding instead to pursue life as an artist, a “priest of eternal imagination.” Chapter Four also details Stephen's further development of his aesthetic theory and his final declaration of independence from friends, family, religion, and country.

Each chapter contains several distinct, self-contained scenes or episodes, which serve as “portraits.” These episodes typically center around or lead to an epiphany—a moment of profound insight and understanding that significantly contributes to Stephen’s personal growth. These epiphanies often arise from seemingly trivial incidents and are central to Joyce’s work. However, they are counterbalanced by “anti-epiphanies”—moments of disillusionment or disappointment that ground Stephen in reality. The shifts between epiphany and anti-epiphany are accompanied by changes in Joyce’s language. Epiphany scenes are generally written in a poetic and elevated style, while anti-epiphany scenes use language that highlights the less noble aspects of life. Together, these shifts illustrate the paradoxes of existence as depicted by Joyce.

Punctuation

Typically, punctuation is not a focal point when discussing a work of fiction. Before Joyce, most English-language novelists adhered to standard punctuation rules. However, in his effort to create a novel of a completely new kind, Joyce employed unconventional punctuation. One noticeable feature in Portrait is the absence of quotation marks. Instead, Joyce uses a long dash at the beginning of a paragraph to indicate a character's speech. This technique makes it less immediately clear which parts of a paragraph are narrative and which are dialogue. Joyce also uses commas sparingly, which results in many longer sentences appearing as “run-on” sentences. This is done deliberately to mimic the continuous flow of a character’s thoughts—a technique known as “stream of consciousness.”

Symbolism

Critics have noted Joyce's distinctive blend of realism and naturalism with symbolism. Joyce’s realistic and naturalistic methods are clear in his attempt to present things as they truly are. Simultaneously, he employs symbolism extensively to imply deeper meanings.

The five senses—sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch—serve as recurring symbols throughout A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen's dependence on the five senses is highlighted in the book’s opening pages. We are made aware of his father’s appearance (sight), the songs sung to him and the applause of Uncle Charles and Dante (sound), the sensation of wetting the bed (touch), and the reward of a “cachou” (cashew—taste) from Dante. Joyce viewed the five senses as essential tools for the literary artist, with sight being the most prominent.

The significance of sight—and its vulnerability—is a recurring theme in the novel. This dependence on and fear for sight is captured in the phrase “the eagles will come and pull out his eyes,” which Dante says to Stephen after his mother tells him to apologize. Stephen rhymes, “pull out his eyes / Apologise.” (Notably, Joyce himself suffered from eye issues later in life and underwent several eye surgeries.) Throughout the novel, Stephen often refuses to apologize for his actions and decisions, risking metaphorical blindness. For instance, in Chapter One, he listens to Mr. Casey's story about spitting in a woman's eye. At Clongowes school, Father Dolan punishes Stephen for breaking his glasses. In Chapter Four, Stephen tries to mortify his senses to atone for his past sins.

Religious symbols are abundant. There are many references to various elements and rites of Roman Catholicism, such as the priest’s soutane, the censer, and the sacraments of communion and confession. Bird symbolism is also significant. Besides the eagles mentioned earlier, there is Stephen’s school friend and rival Heron, associated with “birds of prey.” Stephen later envisions himself as a “hawklike man,” a patient and solitary bird who can observe society from a great height but remains detached from the world he surveys.

Literary Qualities

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The concept of "epiphany" plays a significant role in Joyce's early works, offering a useful entry point into both Dubliners and Portrait. The term originates from Greek, meaning "a showing forth." In the Christian calendar, the feast of the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6, the "Twelfth Night" of Christmas, marks the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to honor the newborn Christ—the "epiphany" being the revelation of Christ to the three kings.

Joyce adopted the term and expanded its meaning to describe a series of very short prose pieces he crafted between 1900 and 1903, some of which later appeared in Portrait. In Stephen Hero (an early draft of Portrait, with surviving parts published posthumously), Stephen, who is planning a book of his epiphanies, defines it as follows: "By an epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments."

In other words, an epiphany is a moment of revelation when the true essence of something is suddenly perceived. Art, as Stephen sees it, strives to capture and preserve these fleeting moments. The planned collection of brief epiphanies in Stephen Hero closely resembles the approximately forty early epiphanies written by Joyce that have survived.

Although neither collection directly resembles Portrait, elements of Joyce's early epiphanies remain present in the novel. We might interpret the completed novel, with its fragmented structure, as a compilation of Stephen's significant moments of insight, which collectively form the entire "portrait."

The novel's fragmented structure is closely tied to its unique narrative technique. Although the story begins with the classic opening line, "Once upon a time," it quickly diverges into unfamiliar territory, using this clichéd phrase to emphasize Joyce's unconventional storytelling. Instead of starting with "Once upon a time there was a little boy named Stephen Dedalus," and detailing his family, birthplace, and background, Joyce takes a different approach. While we do get glimpses of Stephen's life—his name, his nickname "baby tuckoo," his parents, and other acquaintances—we are not given clear information about the setting or time period. Readers familiar with Irish history might recognize names like Michael Davitt and Charles Stuart Parnell, but the narrative does not suggest that these names are more significant than characters like Betty Byrne or the cachous Stephen receives for bringing Dante tissue paper.

The narrative, with its short, simple sentences, loose associations, and non sequiturs, mirrors the fragmented and egocentric way the infant Stephen perceives and processes a continuous stream of sensory information—a "stream of consciousness." This technique was influenced by the emerging field of psychology, particularly the work of William James, who coined the term. Joyce, along with contemporaries like Dorothy Richardson, Katherine Mansfield, and Virginia Woolf, sought to express the intricate inner worlds of their characters' minds. Joyce would push this experimentation further in his later works, such as some episodes of Ulysses, where he nearly eliminates external description in favor of interior monologue.

In Portrait, Joyce omits many conventional authorial cues, like tags indicating who is speaking ("He said"), but an external authorial presence still describes Stephen's experiences to us. Our perspective is tightly confined to Stephen's experiences. Only characters or events significant to Stephen appear in the narrative, and some, like E.C., are only vaguely depicted. The style of language throughout the novel is also dictated by Stephen's mind, evolving from the childish simplicity of the opening paragraphs to the complex aesthetic theories of the later chapters. Nonetheless, Stephen's thoughts and perceptions do not entirely constrain the readers. As Stephen scrutinizes and judges those around him, Joyce encourages readers to step back and critically examine Stephen himself.

Social Sensitivity

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As a novel about a young man's journey to realize an ideal vision of himself as an artist, Portrait explores the complexities of standing apart from the familial, political, and religious conflicts that shape his world. It raises questions about the essence of art and the role of artists in society: Is an artist an especially gifted individual? What responsibilities does an artist have toward family, friends, and country? Stephen envisions the artist as a detached deity, indifferent to the world while meticulously crafting his creations. This same detachment, however, characterizes his interactions with those around him, often making him seem callous and cruel. He is frequently consumed by various idealized self-images, such as the saintly penitent or the heroic artist who, in the novel's closing pages, grandly vows to "forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." The novel does not outright reject these romantic and heroic notions of the artist, but it does suggest the personal costs of such intense self-absorption, no matter how creative. The nature of art itself is also a central theme. What is art? What purpose does it serve? Stephen envisions art as transcending his world, distilling his experience into a pure essence untouched by everyday life. However, the novel provides little evidence of Stephen's art, and what is shown is not particularly remarkable. Moreover, Joyce's book significantly differs from the refined aesthetic ideal that Stephen Dedalus celebrates. While Stephen almost erases his beloved E.C. in his villanelle, Joyce makes a point to remind us that Stephen remains grounded in reality. Portrait is not the type of book that Stephen Dedalus would write, at least not the Stephen depicted at this stage.

Compare and Contrast

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1880s-1910s: During this period, the entire island of Ireland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland lacks its own government, but Irish representatives are elected to the British Parliament in London.

Today: The independent Republic of Ireland, consisting of 26 counties, has its own government based in Dublin. The six counties of Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom and send representatives to the Parliament in London.

1880s-1910s: The majority of the Irish population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, which holds significant influence over the people. However, most leading writers, landowners, and political figures are members of the Church of Ireland, a Protestant denomination linked to the Church of England.

Today: Roman Catholicism remains the dominant religion in the Republic of Ireland, with ninety-five percent of the population identifying as Catholic. Nearly all Irish political leaders are Catholics, although the Church's influence on society is weaker than it once was.

1880s-1910s: Many educated individuals, including James Joyce, emigrate in search of better economic and cultural opportunities abroad.

Today: High emigration rates persisted throughout much of the twentieth century. However, by the 1990s, many young, educated Irish who had moved abroad began returning to Ireland, drawn by a thriving economy and rich cultural life.

1916: A small group of Irish nationalists seizes the main post office in Dublin and declares Ireland an independent republic. British forces quickly suppress the uprising and execute fifteen revolutionary leaders. Despite this, support for independence grows, and in 1922, the twenty-six southern counties of Ireland gain self-government as the Irish Free State. The majority in the six northern counties—Northern Ireland—choose to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Today: Members of the outlawed IRA (Irish Republican Army) sporadically attack British troops and pro-British Protestant citizens in Northern Ireland, and conduct terrorist bombings in England. However, the majority of Irish people, both Catholics and Protestants, prefer a peaceful resolution to the issues in Northern Ireland.

Media Adaptations

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was transformed into a feature film by Judith Rascoe, under the direction of Joseph Strick. The film stars Bosco Hogan, T. P. McKenna, Rosaleen Linehan, John Gielgud, Maureen Potter, Brian Murray, and Luke Johnson, and was released by Ulysse in 1979. It is available from Howard Mahler and distributed by Instructional Video.

The book was also recorded in its entirety on a series of eight audio cassettes, narrated by Donal Donnelly. This unabridged version was released by Recorded Books in Prince Frederick, MD, in 1991. The publisher’s catalogue number is 91106.

For Further Reference

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Bolt, Sydney. A Preface to James Joyce. New York: Longman, 1981; revised edition, 1992. This is an excellent introduction to Joyce's life and works, featuring chapters on his biography, the broader cultural context, and in-depth discussions on Portrait, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake.

Ellmann, Richard. James Joyce. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. This definitive biography of Joyce is based on extensive research and provides a richly detailed narrative of his life.

Gifford, Don. Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. Gifford's annotations serve as an invaluable guide to these works, elucidating many of Joyce's local references and allusions.

Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and Notes. Edited by Chester G. Anderson. New York: Viking, 1968. This convenient edition includes extensive notes and commentary, along with excerpts from Stephen Hero, some of Joyce's earliest "epiphanies," and other useful material.

Joyce, James. Stephen Hero. New York: Norton, 1963. This book contains parts of an earlier manuscript of Portrait that were not destroyed by Joyce. Comparing these two versions offers fascinating insights into the completed novel.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources

Ford Madox Ford, “A Haughty and Proud Generation,” in YR, No. 9, 1922, p. 717.

Hugh Kenner, A Colder Eye: The Modern Irish Writers, Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.

J. I. M. Stewart, “James Joyce,” in British Writers, Vol. VII, edited by Ian Scott-Kilvert, The British Council/ Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1984, pp. 41-58.

For Further Study

Chester G. Anderson, editor, James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Text, Criticism, and Notes, Viking Press, 1968. This edition, regarded as the definitive critical version of Joyce’s novel, includes excerpts from several early reviews.

Bernard Benstock, “James Joyce,” in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 36: British Novelists, 1890-1929: Modernists, edited by Thomas F. Staley, Gale, 1985, pp. 80-104. Benstock, a prominent Joyce scholar, surveys Joyce’s literary achievements and examines the narrative style and symbolism in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch, “View Points,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, edited by William M. Schutte, Prentice Hall, 1968, pp. 114-15. This essay discusses the terms “Bous Stephanomenos” and “Bous Stephanoforos.”

Wayne Booth, “The Problem of Distance in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, edited by William M. Schutte, Prentice Hall, 1968, pp. 85-95. Booth explores the use of irony in Portrait.

Joseph A. Buttigieg, A Portrait of the Artist in Different Perspective, Ohio University Press, 1987. This book attempts to reconcile the impact of Joyce’s modernism in a postmodern context.

Richard Ellmann, James Joyce, Oxford University Press, 1959; second edition, 1982. This is the authoritative biography of James Joyce by a leading scholar of modern Irish literature.

Nicholas Fargnoli and Michael Patrick Gillespie, James Joyce A to Z, Facts on File/Oxford University Press, 1995. A comprehensive reference guide to the life and works of James Joyce.

William E. Morris and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., editors, Portraits of an Artist, Odyssey, 1962. This anthology includes publisher comments, essays, reviews, and educational questions.

W. M. Schutte, editor, Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Prentice-Hall, 1968. Features insightful essays by various scholars, including Wayne Booth and Hugh Kenner.

David Seed, James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, St. Martin’s, 1992. A detailed study of various aspects—such as language, women, and diary entries—of Joyce’s novel.

Weldon Thornton, The Antimodernism of Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Syracuse University Press, 1994. Thornton examines Joyce’s novel in the context of whether Western society can coexist with the modernism it has sought.

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