A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Summary

Discover James Joyce's impressionistic portrait of a young man finding his artistic voice in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, reissued to coincide with 100 years since the first publication of his epic masterpiece, Ulysses

EDITED BY HANS WALTER GABLER; WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY DR DIETER FUCHS AND JOSEPH O'CONNOR

Against the backdrop of nineteenth century Dublin, a boy becomes a man: his mind testing its powers, obsessions taking hold and loosening again, the bonds of family, tradition, nation and religion transforming from supports into shackles; until the young man devotes himself to the celebration of beauty, and reaches for independence and the life of an artist.

Reviews

  • Joyce's depiction of the early Dublin life of Stephen Dedalus towers over modern literature, providing a stylistic blueprint and creative touchstone for artists young and old
    Guardian

About the author

James Joyce

James Joyce was born in Dublin on 2 February 1882, the eldest of ten children in a family which, after brief prosperity, collapsed into poverty. He was none the less educated at the best Jesuit schools and then at University College, Dublin, and displayed considerable academic and literary ability. Although he spent most of his adult life outside Ireland, Joyce's psychological and fictional universe is firmly rooted in his native Dublin, the city which provides the settings and much of the subject matter for all his fiction. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939), as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). James Joyce died in Zürich, on 13 January 1941.
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