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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

by James Joyce

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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20,327201193 (3.71)1 / 597
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the twentieth century's great coming-of-age novels.
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» See also 597 mentions

English (190)  Spanish (4)  Dutch (3)  Portuguese (1)  Swedish (1)  Catalan (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (201)
Showing 1-5 of 190 (next | show all)
Skimmed some, read some, didn’t always keep my attention ( )
  jimifenway | Feb 23, 2023 |
“I’m a spiritual lyrical individual” - James Joyce

Joyce has held the title belt of English prose since 1916 and I don’t see anyone else claiming it. Maybe Nabokov could have gotten it if he’d been a native speaker. Anyway it’s really a sublime piece of art and one I will return to - once again - later in life. I look forward to reading Ulysses sometime soon, hopefully this year.

Also: this read was via audiobook, read by Gerry O’Brien, who was fit for the role ( )
  jammymammu | Jan 6, 2023 |
Very interesting story, once you get past Joyce's intricate use of vocabulary and grammar (you can see precursors to Ulysseys in the grammatical structure). In terms of plot, it was reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye, although Stephen Daedelus is not a whiny, self-absorbed Holden Caulfield, in terms of seeing a semi-quasi-autobiographical sketch of the development of the author from childhood to the brink of manhood. Daedelus's struggles are more serious, more religious, more existential. In all, a much more enjoyable read than Catcher. ( )
  wahoo8895 | Nov 20, 2022 |
How should one review a great classic novel that has stimulated so much analysis and criticism that the paperback version in our library contained more pages devoted to analysis than to the novel itself? I’ll just describe how it affected me personally since I am unlikely to add much to the enormous existing corpus of literary commentary.

I read the book first when I was a freshman at the University of Notre Dame. There I first encountered James Joyce’s semi-stream-of-consciousness technique, which made for quite challenging reading for a college freshman but very enjoyable for a grizzled old lawyer and graduate of a “Great Books” program. This semi-autobiography of Joyce resonated a great deal with my own experience of growing up in the Catholic Church.

The book is a growing up and coming-of-age story about Stephen Dedalus, who would also feature in Joyce’s tour de force, Ulysses. Stephen has to establish his individuality apart from the tentacles of family, religion, and country, then - and until quite recently - in the throes of political upheaval.

Stephen argues with family and with friends at college, and this enables us to experience his thoughts on Irish nationalism, poetry, art, sex, and more basically, what he wanted to do with his life. For me, the passage that provide the most fun was the description of a Jesuit’s fire and brimstone description of hell. For one unacquainted with this sort of thing, the passage might read as parody. But I know better: that old Jesuit’s tirade was almost exactly the same sermon I heard 50 years after the book was published at a religious “retreat” that my Catholic high school required me to attend.

Occasionally, Joyce gets carried away with his own extraordinary ability to compose complicated syntax employing his sesquipedalian vocabulary. Like William Faulkner, he sometimes seems to be just showing off. But there are aspects of life that he really, really gets: like the great relief a true believer experiences when his mortal sins are washed away through the sacrament of confession (technically, “Penance”). He also has a meticulously authentic ear for English spoken by Irishmen.

Evaluation: I think this is one of the great novels in English that all truly educated people should read at least once.

(JAB) ( )
  nbmars | Nov 1, 2022 |
To be honest, I'm so confused. I don't understand what I just read. ( )
  bookishconfesh | Sep 22, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 190 (next | show all)
"Øynene hennes hadde kalt på ham, og sjelen hans hadde sprunget henne i møte. Å leve, å feile, å falle, å seire, å gjenskape liv av liv! En vill engel hadde vist seg for ham, ungdommens og skjønnhetens - forgjengelighetens engel, et sendebud fra livets fagre hoff som var kommet for i et øyeblikk av ekstase å åpne for ham porten inn til all verdens synd og herlighet. Videre og videre ... "

Stephen Dedalus er et portrett av James Joyce som ung mann. Historien om Stephen Dedalus ble påbegynt i 1904, først påtenkt som novelle under tittelen Stephen Hero, etter hvert utviklet til en roman. Deler ble først trykt i tidsskrifter; hele boken utkom i USA i 1916, i England året etter.
added by kirstenlund | editwww.cappelendamm.no (Apr 19, 2004)
 

» Add other authors (125 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Joyce, Jamesprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Alonso, DámasoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Anderson, Chester G.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Atherton, J.S.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Atterbom, EbbaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bindervoet, ErikTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brown, RichardIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Deane, SeamusContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ellmann, RichardEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Franken, GerardineTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Henkes, Robbert-JanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jacques, RobinCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Keogh, BrianIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kerner, HughIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Knuth, LeoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lee, JohnNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Masterman, DodieIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Norton, JimNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Olofsson, TommyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pavese, CesareTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rathjen, FriedhelmTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Reichert, KlausTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Skoumal, AloysTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
"Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes." ~ ovid, metamorphoses VIII, 188
Dedication
Con deidica di Simone
First words
Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo....
Quotations
Sometimes a fever gathered within him and led him to rove alone in the evening along the quiet avenue. The peace of the gardens and the kindly lights in the windows poured a tender influence into his restless heart. The noise of children at play annoyed him and their silly voices made him feel, even more keenly than he had felt at Clongowes, that he was different from others. He did not want to play. He wanted to meet in the real world the unsubstantiated image which his soul so constantly beheld. He did not know where to seek it or how, but a premonition which led him on told him that this image would, without any overt act of his, encounter him. They would meet quietly as if they had known each other and had made their tryst, perhaps at one of the gates or in some more secret place. They would be alone, surrounded by darkness and silence: and in that moment of supreme tenderness he would be transfigured.
O! In the virgin womb of the imagination the word was made flesh. Gabriel the seraph had come to the virgin's chamber. An afterglow deepened within his spirit, whence the white flame had passed, deepening to a rose and ardent light.
The verses passed from his mind to his lips and, murmuring them over, he felt the rhythmic movement of a villanelle pass through them. The roselike glow sent forth its rays of rhyme; ways, days, blaze, praise, raise. Its rays burned up the world, consumed the hearts of men and angels: the rays from the rose that was her wilful heart. /
Your eyes have set man’s heart ablaze
And you have had your will of him.
Are you not weary of ardent ways?
And then? The rhythm died away, ceased, began again to move and beat. And then? Smoke, incense ascending from the altar of the world. /
Above the flame the smoke of praise
Goes up from ocean rim to rim
Tell no more of enchanted days.
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the twentieth century's great coming-of-age novels.

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Legacy Library: James Joyce

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Penguin Australia

2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0142437344, 0141182660

Tantor Media

An edition of this book was published by Tantor Media.

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Urban Romantics

2 editions of this book were published by Urban Romantics.

Editions: 1907832394, 1907832408

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

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