According to Virginia Woolf human character may have changed on or about December, 1910,

but in James Joyces manuscri!ts this change too" !lace a fe# years earlier$ %n Joyces #ritings,
the literary transition from realism to modernism ha!!ened bet#een 190& and 190'$ (is later
novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man )191*+, is no# regarded as a !rototy!e of a
modernist novel, though in its com!osition it started as something com!letely different$
,n ' January 190*, Joyce com!leted an essay entitled A -ortrait of the Artist for the %rish
maga.ine Dana$ /he editors John 0glinton and 1rederic" 2yan had commissioned the te3t but
#hen they received Joyces essay, they declined it$ /he !iece cannot be categori.ed under a
!articular genre$ %t is a combination of fiction and !hiloso!hy, describing the artistic develo!ment
of a young man$ 4ome of the themes of #hat #ould later become the novel A Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man )es!ecially cha!ters four and five+ are already hinted at in this short !rose
s"etch$
After the re5ection by Dana, Joyce decided to elaborate the aesthetic vie#s of the s"etch in a
novel, initially entitled Stephen Hero$ /he unnamed young man of A -ortrait of the Artist #as
called 4te!hen Daedalus and the evolution of his artistic ambitions !reoccu!ied Joyce for almost
a year and a half$ /he #or" #as conceived as a naturalistic novel, follo#ing all the stages of the
artists life in se6uential order$ A!!arently Joyce gradually reali.ed that this format #as too rigid
to e3!ress #hat he had in mind, !artly because, in the meantime, he had already been #riting
some of the more innovative stories of Dubliners$ %n June 190&, therefore, he suddenly
abandoned his #or" on Stephen Hero$
7onetheless, the content of the novel #as still at the bac" of Joyces mind and after com!leting
the last story of Dubliners )/he Dead+, he too" u! the novel again in 190'$ 8ut he did not sim!ly
continue #here he left9off in 190&$ (e tried out a more e3!erimental, e!isodic format #hich
became !aradigmatic of literary modernism$ %nstead of follo#ing all the stages of the artists life,
Joyce no# focused on the young mans consciousness, and because the action is !resented as a
collection of se!arate fragments or e!isodes from 4te!hens life, the narrative is characteri.ed by
constant interru!tion$
%n five cha!ters Joyce describes ho# his !rotagonist gradually becomes disillusioned #ith the
three !illars on #hich his environment is built: family, the %rish nationalist movement, and the
;atholic ;hurch$ 1rom the very beginning, Joyce ma"es clear that !ers!ectives have changed$ /he
young mans feelings and associations are e3!ressed through the so9called stream9of9
consciousness techni6ue$ /he reader is invited to follo# 4te!hens artistic develo!ment,
e3!ressed in the #ay he e3!eriences it$ 4!ecial attention is !aid to moments of sudden
understanding, #hich Joyce referred to as e!i!hanies$ %n Stephen Hero he had already defined
these from a theoretical !ers!ective< in A Portrait he brought them into !ractice$
/he first cha!ter o!ens #ith fragmented lines from a fairy tale, told by 4te!hens father,
intert#ined #ith his young sons sensations$ /he transition from a naturalistic to a modernist
novel is symboli.ed by a change of focalisation through the monocle of 4te!hens father on the
very first !age of the novel$ What is being !erceived through the glass is not #hat the father
sees, but #hat 4te!hen sees, i$e$ his fathers hairy face$ /he visual instrument does not serve as an
adults tool to loo" at the childs #orld< instead 4te!hens o#n !erce!tions are central$ /he
!enultimate e!isode of this first cha!ter brings u! the three issues of family, nationalism and
;atholicism during a ;hristmas dinner, #hich ends in a fierce argument over ;harles 4tuart
-arnell )the %rish nationalists hero #ho came close to obtaining (ome 2ule for %reland, but #as
th#arted !artly by the ;atholic ;hurch and its condemnation of his love affair #ith a married
#oman named =itty ,4hea+$ During his first dinner #ith the adults 4te!hen immediately feels
ho# e3!losive the combination of these institutions can be$ (is e3!eriences at school );logo#es
Wood ;ollege+ ma"e clear that he is not 6uite li"e other children$ %n the last e!isode of the
cha!ter 4te!hen is undeservedly !unished by the !refect, 1ather Dolan$ (is classmates encourage
him to go to the rector and re!ort the un5ust !unishment$ /he rector turns out to be a "ind and
understanding man$ When 4te!hen returns, he is treated by his classmates as a 4te!hen (ero,
and the trium!hant feeling this !roduces momentarily restores his trust in the institutional order$
/his eu!horia contrasts shar!ly #ith the tone in the second cha!ter$ %n a short !eriod of time,
4te!hens family moves to the suburb of 8lac"roc" and then again to Dublin$ %t soon becomes
clear that 4te!hens father, 4imon Dedalus, has financial !roblems and that 4te!hen #ill not be
returning to ;longo#es after the summer$ /han"s to 1ather ;onmee, ho#ever, 4te!hen gets a
scholarshi! to go to the Dublin Jesuit school 8elvedere ;ollege$ (ere 4te!hen stands out as a
model student and, at the age of fourteen, the artist as a young man feels some#hat distanced
from his environment$ >nderstandably, this alienation is inter!reted by his schoolmates as a form
of arrogance$ %n the meantime, his fathers financial situation does not im!rove$ 4te!hen goes to
;or" #ith his father to sell their last !ro!erty and he tries to hel! his family #ith the !ri.e money
he has #on #ith an essay at school$ When he reali.es that this is 5ust a dro! in the ocean, he goes
out at night and has his first se3ual e3!erience #ith a !rostitute in Dublins brothel district$
Again this #orldly initiation is confronted abru!tly #ith a contrasting e3!erience$ /he main event
in the third cha!ter is a religious retreat$ /he sermons about (ell by 1arther Arnall, the retreat
master, are again !resented the #ay 4te!hen !erceives them$ /hey have ma3imum effect,
es!ecially because they follo# so shortly after the e3!erience #ith the !rostitute$ 4te!hen feels
guilty, vomits in agony, goes out, and finds a cha!el in ;hurch 4treet #here he can confess his
sins$ With a feeling of relief he resolves to start a less sinful life$
4te!hens ne# !ious life ? attending early mass, saying rosaries, mortifying the flesh to undo his
sins ? does not go by unnoticed$ /he director at 8elvedere suggests the !ossibility of becoming a
Jesuit$ When 4te!hen, considering a clerical career, comes home, he learns that his family has to
move again because of his fathers debts$ /he combination of these circumstances !reci!itates his
decision to free himself from the confines of both family life and religious constraint$ (e #al"s to
the seaside and e3!eriences an e!i!hany #hen he sees a girl standing in the #ater #ith her s"irts
tuc"ed u!, returning his ga.e$ /his image of the so9called 8irdgirl on Dollymount 4trand reveals
to 4te!hen that he can a!!reciate beauty #ithout having to feel ashamed of his desires$ /his
e3!erience confirms to him that his vocation #ill not be religious but artistic$ 1rom no# on he #ill
recreate life out of life$
%n the fifth cha!ter 4te!hens alienation from nationalism, ;atholicism and family is
systematically illustrated through conversations$ /o his friend Davin he e3!lains that he !ities the
sorro#ful legend of %reland and the #hole atmos!here of betrayal that surrounds %rish
nationalism$ %n a !edantic #ay, 4te!hen outlines his aesthetic theories to a classmate at
>niversity ;ollege called Vincent @ynch$ 2eferring to Aristotle, he e3!lains the difference bet#een
so9called static and "inetic art, !referring the former because its aim is not emotional res!onse$
/o another classmate named ;ranly, 4te!hen confides that he refuses to ma"e his 0aster duty, i$e$
go to confession and communion as a good ;atholic, as his mother urges him to do$ %n his rather
!om!ous manner, he e3!licitly states: % #ill not serve that in #hich % no longer believe #hether it
call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church$ %n the last section of the novel, Joyce s#itches
to the most cons!icuous formal e3!ression of his ne# novelistic a!!roach: as 4te!hen !re!ares to
leave his home country, his e3!eriences and feelings are !resented in the form of diary entries$
03cited by the !ros!ect of going to -aris, he #rites do#n the famous lines: % go to encounter for
the millionth time the reality of e3!erience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated
conscience of my race$
%n the last diary entry 4te!hen Dedalus as"s the old artificer Daedalus to assist him on his flight
from the labyrinth$ 4ignificantly, Joyce has dro!!ed an a from the young artists surname after
his re5ection of the Stephen Hero a!!roach$ %n the ne# version of the novel, the reference to
Daedalus, the mythic architect of the Ainotaurs labyrinth, is therefore mar"ed by a loss$ /his
feeling of loss, combined #ith a focus on consciousness, an em!hasis on interru!tion, and a
corres!ondence of form and content, is ty!ical of many modernist te3ts$ 4te!hen may have
ado!ted art as a ne# faith, but it #ill al#ays be mar"ed by the loss of a unifying !rinci!le$ %n his
overconfidence he is in great danger of meeting the same fate as %carus by flying too close to the
sun$ /his com!arison is suggested by 4te!hens calling Daedalus his old father, #hich is Joyces
masterstro"e: #ith high9flo#n ambitions 4te!hen not only flees %reland, but also this boo", #hich
im!lies that A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the literary e6uivalent of the mythic
labyrinth, and Joyce its ingenious architect$ Aore than that, in this and subse6uent novels Joyce
!roved to be one of the ma5or architects of literary modernism