PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is possibly the greatest example in the English language of the Bildungsroman, a novel tracing the physical, mental, and spiritual growth and education of a young person. Other examples of this genre range from Flaubert's A Sentimental Education (1869) to D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (1913). Published in 1916, the work stands stylistically between the fusion of highly condensed Naturalism and Symbolism found in Dubliners (1914) and the elaborate mythological structure, interior monologues, and stream-of-consciousness style of Ulysses (1922). There is a consistent concern for entrapment, isolation, and rebellion from home, church, and nation in all three of these works (Scholes, 2005).

The novel is autobiographical, but in the final analysis, the variants from, rather than the parallels with, Joyce's own life are of the greater artistic significance. The events of Stephen Dedalus' life are taken from the lives of Joyce, his brother Stanislaus, and his friend Byrne, covering the period between 1885 and 1902. The book begins with the earliest memories of his childhood, recounted in childlike language, and ends when Stephen is twenty-two years old with his decision to leave his native Dublin in search of artistic development to forge the conscience of his race (McCabe, 2008).

In the intervening years, like Joyce, Stephen attends the Jesuit Clongowes Wood School, which he must leave because of family financial difficulties, attends a day school in Dublin, has his first sexual experience, has his first religious crisis, and finally attends University College, where he decides on his vocation as a writer (Kenner, 2006). The dedication to pure art involves for Stephen, and Joyce, a rejection of the claims ...