A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Book Summary

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young man

is a novel written by James Joyce.

First published in serial form between

1914 and 1915,

the book is profoundly autobiographical.

It Chronicles the life of Joyce´s
fictional persona,

Stephen Dedalus, from early childhood,

culminating in his decision to leave
Irland and pursue writing.

The novel shows how Stephen´s artistic
sensibility develops alongside

his intellectual and spiritual growth,

from his early fascination with words
and sounds

to his mature theories about art and
beauty.

Like Joyce´s later work,

Portrait of the Artist helped
pioneer

the "stream of consciousness"
style,

relying on sensual imagery

and even baby talk

to represent the fluid nature of
human thought

from one character´s point of view.

The book opens on three-year-old
Stephen Dedalus,

the youngest of ten children

in turn-of-the- century Ireland.

Stephen lives with his mother, Mary,

a devout Catholic;

his governess, Dante,

who is fanatically religious as well;

his lively uncle Charles;

and his father, Simon,

whose financial ineptitude

forces the family from one dilapidated
home

to another.

Stephen is a sensitive and imaginative boy

deeply influenced by the tides of
political

and religious thought

that surround him.

Soon,

we leap forward in time

as young Stephen begins boarding school

at Clongowes.

At six years old,

Stephen is terrible homesick,

un-athletic

and socially awkward,

and therefore,

an easy target for bullies.

One day, a larger boy named Wells

pushes him into a cesspool,

and Stephen becomes ill from the
filthy water.

While he fantasizes about how sorry

everyone will be when he dies,

he decides not to tell on the boy,

earning his respect from his peers.

That Christmas,

Stephen is eating at the adult´s table

for the first time when a terrible
argument breaks out.

On one side,

Stephen´s father along with his friend,
John Casey

argue on behalf of Charles Parnell,

an Irish nationalist who was denounced by
the church for seeking a divorce.

Dante, oh the other hand,

argues on behalf of the church,

as a devout Catholic,

she is unsympathetic to
divorces.

The fight is vicious,

ending in tears

and leaving young Stephen confused
about his place in the world,

as he struggles to understand the complex
conflict

between loyalty to family,

religious authority,

and nationalist ideals.

In his preteens,

Stephen is forced to withdraw from
Clongowes

when his family's poverty forces a moved
to Blackrock.

There,

Stephen enjoys long walks with his uncle
Charles.

While Stephen continues to feel
different

from those around him,

he loves adventure books like
The Count of Monte Cristo

and joins neighbor boys on imaginary
quests.

Around age 14,

Stephen and his family move to Dublin,

where Simon manages to enroll Stephen at
Belvedere College

a private school run by Jesuits.

Stephen comes into his own at Belvedere,

becoming a reluctant leader,

acting in school plays,

and winning essay contests,

though he continues to feel isolated

and misunderstood.