A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Complete & Unabridged Original Classic Edition
by James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) is the first novel by Irish writer James Joyce. Written in a modernist style, with unconventional punctuation and stream-of-consciousness narration, it follows the religious, social and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce’s fictional alter ego. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe. The work uses techniques that Joyce developed more fully in Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939).
This quality volume is not machine-scanned or a reproduction of an older edition. Prepared by human editors, it presents James Joyce’s modernist classic in a freshly edited and newly formatted edition printed on heavyweight bright white paper with a fully laminated cover. A generous 6×9 page size and 12-point print make this edition easier on the eyes than most trade or “grocery store” modern paperbacks. Also included is an introductory biographical sketch discussing Joyce’s life and work.
James Joyce…
James Joyce (1882–1941) was an Irish modernist writer, his style known both for its complexity and explicit content. One of ten children, after earning a degree at University College, Dublin he left Ireland for Paris, hoping to study medicine, but returned upon learning that his mother was ill. She died in 1903, and around this time he met Nora Barnacle, who remained with him for life, the couple marrying 30 years later. Following publication of a few short stories he and Barnacle left Ireland in 1904, eventually settling in Trieste. In 1914 he published Dubliners. The autobiographical Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man followed in 1916.
For several years, largely supported by English magazine editor Harriet Weaver and an uncle of Nora’s, Joyce worked on Ulysses, considered his masterpiece. Recounting a single day in Dublin, the story follows three central characters and the life of the city around them. A modern retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, the book made extensive use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness narrative, with long passages devoid of standard punctuation and paragraph structure. With advance magazine publication of excerpts, its explicit nature caused years of legal wrangling over the violation of pornography laws, contributing to its success despite the difficulty encountered in actually reading it.
In 1939 Finnegan’s Wake, the long-awaited follow-up, appeared, which many readers found even harder to follow than Ulysses. Nonetheless it was an immediate success.
In poor health for much of his life, Joyce died after an intestinal surgery and is buried in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich.
Product details
Publisher: S.M. Holden,Independently published (June 7, 2024)
Language: English
Paperback: 301 pages
ISBN: 979-8327685796
Item Weight: 1.15 pounds
Dimensions: 6 x 0.68 x 9 inches
Customer Reviews: 5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings
List Price: $12.97
