Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Is Published
James Joyce's *A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man* was published on December 29, 1916, and is a seminal work that explores the development of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, from childhood through adolescence and into early adulthood. The novel draws heavily from Joyce's own experiences, reflecting themes such as family struggles, including his father's alcoholism and the impact of his mother's death, all of which resonate with Joyce's own life in Dublin. Initially conceived as an autobiographical sketch titled "Stephen Hero" in 1904, the work evolved over a decade, showcasing Joyce's innovative narrative techniques, including stream of consciousness. Despite facing initial censorship and mixed reviews—where it was both derided and celebrated—the novel's exploration of disaffection and identity found resonance amid the tumult of post-World War I society. Prominent figures like William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound played crucial roles in facilitating its publication. Over time, *A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man* has garnered recognition, including a high ranking in the Modern Library's list of the top 100 books of the 20th century, underscoring its lasting impact on literature and modernist narrative forms.
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Is Published
Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Is Published
The Irish author James Joyce's work A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was first published on December 29, 1916. It is largely, although not entirely, autobiographical, dealing with the growth from childhood to adolescence and early adulthood of Stephen Dedalus, the budding artist of the novel's title. Stephen's family life—including his father's alcoholism and decline into poverty, as well as his mother's death—mirror events in Joyce's own life, as do Stephen's Catholic upbringing and Jesuit education.
Born into a large family in Dublin, Ireland, on February 2, 1882, Joyce developed an interest in literature and writing during his youth. After his family fell into poverty and his mother died in 1904, he went into self-imposed exile in continental Europe, eventually taking up residence in Paris, France. He lived there until shortly before his death, when after the outbreak of World War II he left for Zurich, Switzerland, where he died on January 13, 1941.
Although Joyce chose to live abroad, his works were influenced by his Irish heritage. The earliest incarnation of Portrait was an autobiographical sketch titled “Stephen Hero” written in 1904 (published in 1944). Joyce's unconventional style was evidently apparent even in this draft, for it was soundly rejected by a British editor who told him, “I can't print what I can't understand.” Over the next 10 years, Joyce expanded the novel to 1,000 pages before he trimmed it to a more manageable length. After the British tried to censor it, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats and the American poet Ezra Pound helped to secure its publication in serial form in a review called The Egoist in 1914. The Egoist's editor Harriet Weaver then worked to get Portrait published in book form in England and the United States in 1916.
When Portrait first appeared, it received mixed reviews, with some calling it “garbage” and others praising Joyce as a literary genius. Those who rejected it found it too graphic in places, as well as disrespectful of Catholicism and religion in general and written in a narrative style, which included stream of consciousness, that was at times off-putting. Nevertheless, coming as it did practically on the heels of World War I, critics and readers in general could appreciate its hero's disaffection and the innovative storytelling.
In 1998 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was ranked third on the Modern Library's controversial list of the top 100 books of the 20th century. Joyce's Ulysses (1922), concerning the experiences of several characters—one of whom is Stephen Dedalus—during one day in Dublin, was ranked first.