a portrait of the artist as a young man . joyce

latin phrase for the day:
pax super totum sanguinarium globum — peace over the whole bloody globe (taken from a portrait of the artist as a young man...)

james joyce is a talented irish author, perhaps known best for writing ulysses. the main character of a portrait of the artist... is stephen dedalus, who is considered to be joyce's alter-ego. stephen's life closely parallels joyce's; stephen attended the same schools (clongowes wood college, belvadere college, and university college in dublin), comes from a similar family background (respected catholic parents, financial instability), and goes on to paris to become a writer, just as joyce did in 1902.

it's important to identify inspirations for the character in order to better understand the book. the main character's name is stephen dedalus, which represents two figures: st.stephen, and daedelus, a figure in greek mythology.

* st.stephen was stoned to death for falsely being accused of speaking out against God and moses. st.stephen is considered the first christian martyr. st.stephen had an important vision of the father and the son that were exemplary of his religious beliefs.

*daedalus attempted to leave the island of crete with his son icarus by creating wings from feathers and wax. when icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and he fell into the sea.

quick rundown of the book: stephen dedalus grows up attending a strict irish catholic school during a time of political tension in ireland. after changing schools, stephen falls to regularly visiting prostitutes in dublin at the young age of 16. he continues a downward moral spiral until he is awakened at a retreat by a fiery series of speeches about the evils of sin and hell, becomes afraid, and eventually repents for his sins. he reaches the opposite extreme and practices a devout and pious lifestyle, eventually leading to his school's dean encouraging stephen to join the priesthood. stephen considers the offer, but after seeing a beautiful young girl at the beach, decides that he takes pleasure in true beauty, and cannot live a life of self-denial as a priest. he goes on to university, and through engaging conversations with his friends, strengthens his passion for writing, and his strong desire to live life free of the constraints of religion, country, and family. in the end of the book, stephen decides to leave ireland for paris, to pursue his love for art and writing. in the last chapter, stephen watches a scene of birds flying overhead, and the reader imagines that he is desiring wings to fly away from ireland and pursue a new life.

i think that just as st.stephen's vision of the father and son represented his religious piety, stephen dedalus's observation of the beautiful young girl at the beach represents his enlightenment of the rejection of religion and self-denial. st.stephen is considered a martyr to religion; perhaps stephen dedalus can be considered a martyr to art.

the parallels between daedelus and stephen dedalus are clear in that they are both envisioning a life away from the island to which they are bound, and are attempting to find wings so that they may fly away. while daedelus's wings are crafted from materials, stephen's wings are crafted through experience and growth. joyce ends the book in a place of hope for what is to come for stephen, but perhaps he is afraid that his fate will be the same as icarus.

writing style: this is the kind of book where i needed to go back and re-read sentences and paragraphs, in order to differentiate and recall characters, and make sense of certain parts of the plot. joyce is known for his 'stream-of-consciousness' writing, which is present in this book, and reaches a new level later in his writing in ulysses. i think that kind of writing is refreshing here--joyce does it well.

themes: growing up catholic, repentance, questioning religion, rejecting catholicism, coming of age, irish upbringing, expatriotism...

my rating (out of 10): 7+ - i recognize that it is a very well-written book, but i think it needs a second read in order to capture more of the meaning. perhaps it will achieve a higher score for me the next time around. in short, it's a 7 with more potential.