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About 5 h 50 min to read.Inizia 90 giorni gratisA chi è rivolto
This is for readers who love a growing mind on the page, schooldays and first loves, Irish argument, religion wrestled with at close range, and the question of how a writer is made.
Che cos’è questo libro
A small boy stands at the edge of a muddy football field, hands blue with cold, pretending to run. He is Stephen Dedalus.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel by James Joyce, drawn closely from his own youth in Dublin. It follows Stephen through five chapters, from nursery to university, and the language grows up along with him. You see why a boy who fears the pandybat comes to say he will not serve.
In questo riassunto
- 1A frightened boy learns the world through his sensesFree
- 2A Christmas dinner splits the family over Parnell
- 3One unfair beating teaches him to speak up
- 4A fallen family drives him to dreams and defiance
- 5Shame and desire drive him into private sin
- 6A priest's sermons about hell break him open
- 7A priest offers him a calling and he refuses
- 8At university he builds a theory of beauty
- 9He refuses the nets of country, church and language
- 10The style grows up as Stephen does
Punto chiave 1 di 10
A frightened boy learns the world through his senses
The novel opens inside a child's head. Baby tuckoo hears a tale from his father, sings a song about a wild rose, and notices that a wet bed is warm and then cold. Joyce keeps the words small and plain. The reader sees only what Stephen sees.
At Clongowes Wood College, a boarding school run by Jesuits, Stephen is smaller and weaker than the other boys. He hangs at the edge of the football crowd and pretends to run. Everything at school feels damp, cold and foreign.
Stephen turns each fear into a puzzle about words. He wonders why the word suck sounds ugly and what a kiss really means. On the flyleaf of his geography book he writes his name and address, out through Ireland and Europe to the Universe. Then he asks what lies beyond.
When he falls ill, a fever dream brings news that Parnell is dead.
Fear and beauty arrive together, and words can hold them both.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Who’s who
- Stephen Dedalus
- A sensitive Dublin boy who moves from school to university and wants to find his own way of life and art.
- Simon Dedalus
- Stephen's talkative, charming father, who sings, drinks, tells stories and slips ever deeper into debt.
- Dante
- The family's strict, devout Mrs Riordan, who defends the church and stands against Parnell.
- Mr Casey
- A fierce friend of the family who loyally mourns Parnell and argues bitterly with the church.
- Father Dolan
- The prefect of studies at Clongowes, whose cruel and mistaken beating of Stephen sends him to the rector.
- Cranly
- Stephen's closest friend at university, a silent, watchful listener who tests his beliefs and urges him to spare his mother.
- Davin
- A gentle country student and keen nationalist who wants Stephen to join the Irish cause.
- Lynch
- A sharp-tongued university friend who listens, sometimes unwillingly, as Stephen lays out his ideas about beauty.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 80,700 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
What is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man about?
It follows Stephen Dedalus from early childhood at a Jesuit boarding school through Dublin adolescence and university. He wrestles with family, religion and country, and slowly decides that his life belongs to art.
Is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a true story?
It is a novel, but it draws closely on Joyce's own youth in Dublin. Joyce marked the manuscript Dublin, 1904 and Trieste, 1914. Stephen is not Joyce, though their schools and experiences are alike.
Why is the main character named Dedalus?
Dedalus echoes Daedalus, the legendary craftsman who built wings to escape a prison. Stephen hears his name as a prophecy of flight and of making something new, which links to the book's images of birds.
Is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man hard to read?
The story is told in clear scenes, and the style changes with Stephen's age. Early chapters use simple childlike words, the sermons are vivid, and the dialogue between friends is lively and funny.
What is the main message of the book?
The book shows that finding your own voice means resisting the forces that shape you, such as family, nation and church. Stephen chooses silence, exile and cunning so that he can become an artist.
Cite this edition
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man.
Joyce, J. (2026). A portrait of the artist as a young man. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man (Original work published 1914)
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man.
@book{joyce2026portrait,
author = {Joyce, James},
title = {A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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