A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Not all readers can handle James Joyce, but this is one of his more accessible works, and this is an easy and comfortable way to enjoy it. It's kind of a philosophical coming of age, in which the protagonist, obviously the autobiographical version of the author, discovers that the convoluted and severe Catholicism of his youth falls apart when confronted with the growing wisdom and maturity of real life. If you understand that sentence, you'll understand Joyce.

Who am to judge James Joyce? Like many, I put off reading this book until retirement. I should have read it earlier. It is at or near the top of all the thousands of books I have read in over 75 years of reading. I followed it "Dubliners" which is, if possible, even more brilliant. I am halfway through "Ulysses" and have learned to let it wash over my mind and not to fret about every word's meaning. Joyce is unique in 20th century literature for a very good reason.

Joyce is a favourite writer who reconciled me, as a troubled teenager, to being Irish. The early 20th-century Irish-Catholic soul is here revealed as perhaps in no other work, as the path of Joyce's alter-ego, Stephen Dedelus, is traced from childhood to maturity.One marvellous set-piece after another is presented, the family home, the fierce Christmas argument over Parnell, the playing fields of Clongowes, the Hellfire sermon, the epiphany of the transcendent girl on the strand, the creation of a poem, the worshipful encounter with the nighttown prostitute... Until finally Stephen is ready to flee the nets that trammel the Soul, and forge the "uncreated conscience of his Race"...It is of course beautifully written as only Joyce can with the total beauty of language held in his mind and heart and hands. As his genius first shines then glows then bursts into flame... Here is his flight to the Sun.While not normally enamoured of the "Preface" I did find Seamus Deane's to be insightful and of interest...But read this for a vision of early 20th-century Catholic Ireland, the unique account of the growth of the artistic mind, and the beauty of Joyce's language shimmering across the veil of the world.

James Joyce's novel is difficult to review because it would take multiple reads and analyses to understand where he is coming from and where he is going to in his stream of consciousness style. I was advised to read this book by an Irishwoman if I wanted to understand Ireland and the Irish.I'm not sure if I do after struggling through this maze of words. But I did finish it so I accomplished something. Good luck to you.

James Joyce is one of those authors beloved by literature professors but very difficult to read for pleasure. His sentences are long and often seem to go nowhere, he doesn't tell the story in any clear way, and you never feel like you really know the characters. He uses elaborate, almost poetic language. Maybe some poetry lovers like to linger over the words and savor each incomprehensible line. If you're not of that mind, you might struggle with this book.The story itself is indirectly told, and sometimes feels like work to read. Still, Joyce stirred up just enough interest in the protagonist to make me persevere to the end. I enjoyed Joyce's presentation of Irish attitudes on religion, nationalism, etc. Not being knowledgeable of Irish cultural history, I don't know if his portrayal is accurate or just his own creation, but it was the main interest for me in this novel.Some say "A Portrait of the Artist..." is a preliminary reading for being able to handle Joyce's Ulysses. If so, the much shorter "...Portrait..." at least has the virtue of letting you sample Joyce to see whether you belong among the crowd of admirers.

Joyce is wonderful as always. It is interesting to me growing up Catholic in 1904 was not much different than it was in 1974. I think this is a wonderful look inside Joyce's adolescent mind. Enjoy.

One of the ways I justified getting a Kindle was all the free books (of the "classics") variety I could read. I remembered starting this as a teenager and giving up on it, but I decided to give it another try.I'm glad I did, as I was finally ready for it.As far as "plot" goes, it can be summarized fairly quickly. You probably won't be turning the pages to see "what happens." But you could be drawn in to find out how Stephen's mind progresses -- to me, the most appealing part of the book. As Stephen progresses from childhood to adulthood, you can see each chapter become more complex -- it's one of the best portrayals of intellectual maturing that I've ever read. Some great portions include the dinner table argument about Parnell, the hell sermon, and the conversation about the nature of art.It feels really presumptous to write a review of what is widely considered to be one of the greatest novels of all time, but I guess that is what reviews on Amazon are for. If you have a Kindle, you can get it for free -- why not?While all Kindle free books seem to have some typos, the ones in this book are very minimal.

This is a poor quality version of the book. There have been deliberate errors inserted. For example in some places book has been replace with ebook. I saw this a few times and thought it was odd, but then later the word "worm" was replaced with "computer virus". I stopped reading at this point an instead purchased the Penguin Kindle version which was fine. Note I had also purchased another version earlier which had the same errors, so it seems there are few of the incorrect versions floating around.

James Joyce’s celebrated novel published in book form 1916 is always worth reading. A modernist style of writing this falls into that part of the Bildungsroman known as a Künstlerroman and concerns the young Stephen Dedalus.Here we follow the young Stephen as he grows up and see what schooling was like for him. Of course our main character is an alter ego of the author, and so this is quite autobiographical, and gives Joyce the chance to select what he places on the paper and to contemplate things.As we read this we see how language plays a large part as both Stephen’s use of it and his friends’ as well develops over the period this encompasses. Along with this is of course the development in character and the more adult thoughts that start to occur. This holds an interest for us especially in the schooling of the period in Ireland, where Dedalus is brought up by Jesuits. I should think most people are aware of the indoctrination in faith established at an early age so that those who have become part of an establishment are less likely to leave. We see how this affects the young Stephen who is even at one stage contemplating joining the priesthood.Well written with a wonderful use of language and symbolism this is something that is easy to get into and thus makes it probably the most accessible of Joyce’s novels. We can also find here the beginnings of Joyce’s fascination with style and use of language as he experimented further with Ulysses and then onto Finnegans Wake, showing his avant garde style and the potential of the novel to be something more than just a traditionally told narrative.

I initially made the mistake of ordering this on Kindle and ploughed through it but there were no notes to help with sources and translations (of Latin) and too many broken lines and hyphens. So it was a relief to get the paperback thereafter which helped with all the right notes and details. It still isn't an easy read as it is very much a stream of consciousness and a period piece - you need to understand where Joyce grew up and what life was like. That said, there are some wonderful passages of description and some very beautiful prose. Give yourself time and maybe read it more than once.

This is one of Naxos's finest recordings of any novel. Jim Norton reads with a sensitivity, intelligence and understanding of this complex text which comes only with long familiarity. He also has beautiful enunciation and a sense of phrasing and timing which few readers can match.Many readers will have struggled with this novel. It a modernist response to Jane Eyre, David Copperfield and Villette, charting the mental and spiritual progress of the author, thinly disguised. Its narrative procedures at times anticipate what Joyce would be doing in Ulysses and there are passages of experimental prose poetry. The major obstacle to one's enjoyment, however, is not technical but human: except when he is Everychild and attracts a degree of pathos, Stephen, the hero, is a repellant character, moody, arrogant, cold and priggish with deluded notions of his creative powers: the villanelle he struggles to give birth to is a tedious exercise in rhetorical whining. Nor are any of the other major characters engaging or much developed personalities. The book seems conceived in a grudge against not simply the Catholic Church, the female sex and provincial Ireland but against humanity itself: it is Ulysses without Bloom and Molly and those dozens of living, vibrant minor characters. Perhaps Joyce rediscovered Dickens before writing Ulysses.But Jim Norton makes a wonderful case for this novel and of course Joyce does many interesting things with narrative voices and structure which make it historically important. This reading may well help others appreciate the whole work rather than give it up as a waste of time half way through.

It is intensely annoying that this conversion to e-book has many word spaces missing. e.g. Chapter 3 paragraph 2 'Yet asheprowled in quest...' I know this is Joyce, but this is not how the printed version reads. Can I have my money refunded please. Oops, I see I paid nothing in the first place. Serves me right for being such a cheapskate.