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Title: A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce, Seamus Deane ISBN: 0-14-243734-4 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.84 (179 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Origin of Joyce's Transcendence.
Comment: Joyce is not the easiest of writers to get along with. He is difficult, there is no question about that. But he is understandable given some small effort on the part of the reader. And the best way to handle this most literary of writers is to begin here with Portrait.
You see, although Joyce's work stands up seperately, the canon makes more practical sense taken as a whole. In Ulysses, for example, his most famous novel, we find a kind of sequel to Portrait, with Stephen Dedalus again featuring and Joyce completing his transcendence of language, culture and religion. Then in Finnegans Wake we have a book that nobody can really understand. A book that is both deeply human, and densely impenetrable.
So Portrait, a semi-autobiographical memoir, is the story of a young man's mind developing. It is Joyce's most accessible work, a slim volume of poetry called Chamber Music, left aside. That isn't to say it is an easy read. He had already developed a written-on-the-skin prose style. And some passages are quite heady. I think particularly of the sections on Catholic doctrine and whether it makes any sense.
What we have in Portrait is the development of an artist, we see how the artist takes his own background, his own experience as fodder for his work, but also needs to transcend his upbringing, to see himself from the outside to see the worth of it all, to measure the experience.
It is a deeply personal book, and in the hands of a lesser writer could appear utterly self-indulgent, but the prose throbs with genius. It carries you along into Joyce's worldview. It isn't a smooth journey, but it is never painful. And it gives you a good grounding in Joyce before going on to tackle the more experimental Ulysses.
Or if you've already read his magnum opus, it opens up avenues in the later work you may not have considered.
Joyce is a chunky, thick writer who demands your full attention. But he is also a beautiful poet and even readers who don't fully understand him can delight in his wordplay and the resonance of his sentences.
It is said that Ulysses is a novel that should be read out loud. And I think the same can be said of A Portrait. So, all in all, it is probably not a book to read on the train. It is a novel to be taken slowly and digested fully, perhaps in short bursts before going to sleep.
Not easy, but extremely rewarding.
Rating: 4
Summary: Portrait
Comment: James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist has long been hailed as one of the great literary masterpieces. While it is a different style than I am accustomed to reading, I learned to appreciate its unique approach. The way Joyce links Stephen's seemingly random thoughts in the first chapter kept me on my toes and made me more aware of my own thought processes as I read.
Two parts of this book stand out in my mind; both deal directly with Stephen's personality changes. First, we watch Stephen change from a quiet, picked-on schoolboy to a student with increasing influence and authority. Suddenly (and seemingly without effort on his part), Stephen is no longer the isolated intellectual being pushed into ditches, but is leading younger boys in prayers. Just as Stephen won grudging respect from those who were his tormentors, he won my respect by refusing to tattle and giving into self-pity as so many others would. Second, we watch Stephen's spiritual journey. He is brought up surrounded by religion and is introduced early to the conflict between politics and religion. We see him turn from his religious background to "riotous living," then turn back when the preacher's "hell fire and damnation" sermons prick his conscience. Stephen adopts such a rigid, pious lifestyle that the priest invites the young man to join the priesthood. Stephen rejects this opportunity, saying he will inevitably fall again. Almost immediately afterwards, he sees a beautiful girl and feels "an outburst of profane joy." Through these two events, we track Stephen's growth and progress as he discovers his own personality. In large measure, it is this that that makes the novel so timeless. The struggle of offspring versus parents, of childhood teachings versus outside influences is an ever-present tension in adolescence. Stephen's struggle with his parents' religion seemed especially pertinent. All too often, people never stop to see analyze their religious beliefs, to see if there is a deeper reason for their convictions than just childhood habit. Stephen does not want to celebrate Easter, but is loath to cause an argument between his mother and himself-a struggle felt by anyone who has ever differed from their parents on any matter. Though not always this dramatic, there comes a point when children must think for themselves. Not being too far removed from that age myself, it will be interesting to re-read this book in years to come when the roles are reversed and I find myself the parent. I wonder if I will empathize more with Stephen's mother who hopes he can find a heart or if I will staunchly defend the young man's position.
Initially, I wasn't sure whether or not I like Portrait of the Artist, but it is a book that stays with you. The writing style is unique and interesting. Joyce's use of words such as "dismember" (rather than "cannot remember") and "whitegray not young" (to describe Father Dolan's face) captivated me. No one can deny that Joyce is a master of the language.
Rating: 2
Summary: A good heart, but not a good read
Comment: I think my main problem with "Portrait" is simply the narrative itself. And please, don't get me wrong: I've read this twice and even took an English class where, for half the year, we personally analyzed this book and all motifs found through out. But even when I understand all that...this is still painful to read.
And here's the thing: there are parts in this book that I love. For example in the fourth chapter when it describes the main character seeing a girl dipping her toe into the water. I thought that part was well done. Or even the bits in the third chapter where the artist contemplates his sins, I liked those parts as well. But in between these parts, the story just gets so dreadfully DULL! I found myself at times skimming a few pages ahead just to see if this was getting any where.
I think the most hilarious instance in this book, at least for me, was during one of the last two chapters when the "artist" is talking to his four friends. He continues to dribble on and on about nothing. One of his friends tries to change the subject a few times, but our hero just keeps on chatting. Eventually they start to leave him one by one...
Again, this is a book that needs to be STUDIED at different moments, perhaps even QUOTED...but actually READING of this book should be a task taken only by James Joyce fans and the inquisitive only.
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Title: Ulysses by James Joyce ISBN: 0679722769 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Dubliners by James Joyce ISBN: 0486268705 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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Title: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad ISBN: 0486264645 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $1.50 |
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Title: Joyce's Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (Cliffs Notes) by Valerie Pursel Zimbaro ISBN: 0822010577 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 27 November, 1964 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Finnegans Wake (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by James Joyce, John Bishop ISBN: 0141181265 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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