A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and Notes (The Viking Critical Library) Paperback – June 30, 1977

Love James Joyce!

One has to be brave and persistent to read any writing by James Joyce. But this quasi self-portrait is a good place to start.

I bought this book as a textbook for an English class I was taking. We did not make it far in the book but what we did read was very interesting. I will be keeping this book to finish reading it.

So concludes James Joyce, with the subject quote, in this Irish coming-of-age novel. I first read this novel a few decades ago, and felt it deserved a re-read, in particular, to contrast it with other novels in this genre. Most recently, I've read the Norwegian novelist, Per Petterson's It's Fine By Me. There is also the classic French work Le grand Meaulnes., and, for better or worse, the American The Catcher in the Rye. In terms of Joyce, I'd also read his stream-of-consciousness masterpiece Ulysses. A re-read of that should await at least a first reading of The Dubliners, if not Finnegans Wake (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin).In approaching this novel, the "reference frame" of the reader will be a dominant consideration: practicing Catholic, or, ex-Catholic, or, never-once-was a Catholic. Because, unlike the other three coming-of-age novels mentioned above, religious dogma, in the form of Catholic beliefs, permeates this work. Naturally, the anticipation, and reality of sex makes more than a cameo appearance. There are the shifting relationships with parents and adults as one moves toward become their coeval (Stephan visits his father' childhood home of Cork, with him, and his father treats him more as a brother). And there are the forms, and reality of obtaining an education, dominated by the schools and professional educators.Stephan Dedalus is the character that largely serves as James Joyce's alter-ego. The novel commences in his infancy, with a nursery rhyme meant to instill fear, and therefore obedience: "Or, if not, the eagles will come and pull out his eyes." A fitting prelude to the religious dogma that promotes so much of the same. The next section depicts boarding school scenes, the austerity and coldness of life, the spectrum of teachers who seek to guide, influence, or impose their will on the children. I thought the Christmas holiday scene, when Stephan is first at home, especially apt, since it illustrated the sharp gender division related to the Catholic Church, unsurprising, perhaps, to anyone who has attended one of their services, particularly in Europe. In a later scene, Dedalus is wrongly punished by a rector. The young lad, despite possible dire consequences, reports the rector to his superior, and enjoys a modest triumph of righteousness.For me, the climactic scene occurred half-way through the novel. At the age of 16, Stephan succumbs to the temptations of the flesh, on a commercial basis, and then is immediately tormented with his "mortal sin," and the ever-so-graphic depictions of eternal torment that are promoted by Church officials. The only "salvation" is confession, and he must muster the courage to tell a complete stranger what an abysmal sinner he is. As an ex-Catholic, this sequence of events resonated, as did terms I had not thought about in a long time, like the difference between "actual" and "sanctifying" grace. Stephan's burden of eternal damnation is, at least temporarily, removed, and he does so well in his true contrition, (contrition that transcends mere fear of eternal damnation) that he is approached by one of the priests in order to discuss the possibility that he has a priestly vocation (yes, the "join the brotherhood" pitch).But a scene of a young woman, gazing out to sea, with comely legs, deters Dedalus from thoughts of permanent abstention. In a passage that anticipates another famous one from Ulysses, Joyce writes: "Her eyes had called him and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life! A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory. On and on and on and on!"I'll give Joyce a hearty amen, from the amen corner. 5-stars.

Depending on one's taste and level of concentration, James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is either tedious flop or a wonderful cornerstone of world literature. (I believe the latter.) I won't go into a discussion of "A Portrait" here because if you are looking at this particular Viking Critical edition, you've already committed yourself to reading it. The value of this edition lies in the critical essays and notes at the end. The notes will help the reader along, as they explain some of the terms and/or conditions that are particular to Joyce's Ireland. The essays are, each and every one, valuable tools. Whether it's an examination of Joyce's life, the creation of "A Portrait", the influences it would have, etc., every essay is a heavy-weight that enchances an understanding of the book. (At least it did for me.) If you're seriously considering reading "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" this is the edition to use.

Apart from a long descriptive terrifying evocation of the horrors that await some of us in hell, I think this book is banal. It's both provincial and universal at the same time. Maybe that's why some people think it's great. Unfortunately, parsing the stream of consciousness isn't very rewarding for the reader. Though it's certainly better than "UIysses" let alone "Finnegan's Wake, which I don't want to give the impression I've tried to read. Bring on the angry Joyce scholars. You're in the minority, guys, which I guess you like.

If you are looking for mindless entertainment, go watch TV. Joyce's "Portrait" is for those who truly appreciate great literature and are willing to dwell on every word of a marvelous artwork. This (obviously) takes time, which you probably have if you are reading this recreationally. As a high school student reading this piece as a requirement, I too had a certain measure of difficulty digesting the book at parts (mostly due to time constraints.) The effect of this difficulty though, is the splendid epiphany that you can, by the novel's end, view the world through the eyes of the genius Stephen. Like Faulkner, Joyce demonstrates confusion not through description, but by confusing the reader. This artistic ability is what separates "classic" literature from forgotten "popular" novels of past eras. This may be a little more involved than "Chicken Soup," but for those of us who think about what they are reading and enjoy literary analysis, the novel is quite wonderful. You can read it on your own, but I would recommend referencing the myth of Daedalus and Icarus before reading the novel. Also, have a historical encyclopedia handy for names during the read. Enjoy!

I recently re-read this edition of POTA and was pleased to find the experience even more exhilirating than when I read the book first in college 25 years ago. The notes and essays are invaluable to an American Jewish reader of a book so imbued with issues critical in Irish Catholic life and history. The issues raised are, above all, universal. Read it, and read it again!

When I started a class in Joyce, the prof handed out to the students an article on Joyce's works. The critic maintained that although most people felt they 'should' read Joyce, he never met anyone "who actually enjoyed reading him." As a poet, people often similarly complain to me, "I don't get Poetry. I just don't understand it; it's too hard." I tell them that poetry is not to be read like prose, that it does need to be treated differently than reading a story; think of it as a translation exercise. I feel the same about Joyce. It doesn't give me the same breezy pleasure that reading Jane Austen does; I sometimes have to read several passages of Joyce's three or four times, scouring the notes and criticisms in this and other annotated editions, discuss it with other Joyce fans and do some Googling, too. But like a person training to run a marathon, climbing a mountain or exercising to lose weight at a Gym, there is a certain amount of hard work that goes into the task before one experiences the joy of succeeding. It may not be the same kind of enjoyment that one means when they say they enjoyed this book, movie or event, but there is a joy in it still. When one starts to draw all the threads of intertextual references, connotations or metaphors together in a passage, the light of understanding is a purity of joy that is greater than that of reading a book for fun and ease.Although many people may not consider this fun and I have no desire to coerce people to read something they are not drawn to, if you are willing to work at it, then I would suggest you arm yourself with some background knowledge on the novel from reference or annotated books like this one, a friend who has struggled with this challenge themselves before and extra spare time to mull over the passages and see if figuring out what Joyce is saying brings the same rush of bliss that it does for me and you will have opened up a new avenue of understanding on one of the great writers of the 20th century.