James Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Chiltern creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before; the tactile layers, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man describes Stephen Dedalus's development from a bright young student to a promising clergy student to an artist. Set in Ireland at the turn of the century, It begins with his earliest childhood memories and progresses to his grand epiphany, in which he announces to his closest companions his decision to pursue art rather than a religious life. Stephen's decision results from a combination of factors: the temperament that colors his impressions of the world, his interactions with others, and his interpretation of social forces. From the start evidence indicates Stephen will be an artist. Readers first meet him as a very young child growing up in a rural community in Ireland and attending Clongowes Preparatory School. He is a timid child who doesn't socialize easily. Stephen has been bullied on the playground because of his small size and shy demeanor; when his glasses are broken following an accident, he is excused from writing exercises by his teacher. When one of his masters finds out, he beats Stephen's hands and heightens the boy's belief that his treatment by the universe is unfair. Family and friends at a Christmas dinner represent some of the differing political attitudes pervading Ireland at the time, both for and against the Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell, and the Irish independence movement. As Stephen grows older and begins to develop love interests, he romanticizes these prominent political figures; he also fantasizes about the nature and landscape of the afterlife, encouraged by the fire-and-brimstone sermons of his schoolmasters. Both tendencies show the strong imagination of an artist. As Stephen matures, school authorities try to persuade him to join the priesthood. In many ways joining such a large institution makes sense. His family is Catholic and would see a life with the clergy as a fine vocation. The priesthood would offer stability as well; Stephen's family changes homes several times during Stephen's youth due to his father's financial irresponsibility, so a steady existence might be a relief. However, the novel shows a growing conflict between Stephen's impulse toward the priesthood and his development as an artist. Joyce offers numerous dialogues between Stephen and his friends about books and vast aesthetic and philosophical issues. These dialogues mirror Stephen's inner crisis and give insight into his psychological development. As he gets older, Stephen begins to visit prostitutes in Dublin. This habit becomes increasingly hard to reconcile with the priestly calling, and his guilt becomes more than he can bear. Gradually, Stephen comes to realize he has no zeal for the religious life and decides instead to become an artist. Joyce presents the last episodes in the book as a series of epiphanies and exchanges. Stephen sees a woman on the beach who represents, in his creatively inspired state, art itself. Later, on the streets of Dublin, Stephen encounters again a woman he loves and declares his intentions to her. As readers last glimpse the artist, he vows to forge the uncreated conscience of [his] race, or express to the world his sense of beauty and truth in the way he knows best: through art.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Diamond Pocket Books
• Seitenzahl: 260
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. Juli 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 17mm
• Gewicht: 489g
• ISBN-13: 9789354860522
• ISBN-10: 9354860524
• Artikelnr.: 62609292

Autorenporträt

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 - 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, most famously stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, his published letters and occasional journalism. Joyce was born in 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, into a middle-class family. A brilliant student, he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's alcoholism and unpredictable finances. He went on to attend University College Dublin. In 1904, in his early twenties, Joyce emigrated to continental Europe with his partner (and later wife) Nora Barnacle. They lived in Trieste, Paris, and Zurich. Although most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe centres on Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there. Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city. Shortly after the publication of Ulysses, he elucidated this preoccupation somewhat, saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."