A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

I've finally been pushed to read some Joyce as it's in my academic curriculum this semester. I've always hesitated reading his work because a teacher once told me how most people just never finish Ulysses because it's such a difficult read, and so I always looked at James Joyce as "that Irish author that's difficult to read" and I probably shouldn't touch his work. I've read The Dead to complement my reading of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (A Portrait) and to give me a broader exposure to Joyce's style and work. I just finished A Portrait today and thought I'd share some initial thoughts and feelings and speak a bit more on the thematic elements but no doubt touch upon the stylistic approach.

The novel is a story about a young boy, Stephen, who is sent to a Catholic boarding school, documenting his journey into maturity and development into a young man. I believe that the story was based on Joyce's own childhood, yet to what degree he digresses from authentic events, I'm not quite sure. I found the story in itself fascinating, following Stephen's journey of adolescence with elements from his family life, relationship with his peers, spirituality and his academic interests. I was particularly touched by a scene at the beginning of the novel where Stephen was still a young boy getting used to the schooling system,to the extent that it moved me to tears. Joyce captures the innocence of a child so well, and his bewilderment at the changes around him as well as the the conflicts of the adults around him.

In terms of spirituality, we see that Stephen is gradually disillusioned by the Church and while he doesn't necessarily go as far as to attack the Church, he recognises that there are many elements that don't sit well with him and that he ultimately cannot identify with them. The role of confession in the Catholic church is significant, as it is a ritual that is not performed in all dominations nor in many major religions. The insight and emphasis given to this rite is valuable in that it gives outsiders a glimpse into that world but more importantly it plays a part in Stephen's spiritual battle and his view of the clergy. It creates a mysterious air of what is hidden and what is exposed in confession but also in the human and it underlines how not everything is always what it seems in terms of human character and expectations.

The style of the novel changes throughout in order to reflect the protagonist's own development and maturity, with the language and form becoming more complex. The literary development also reflects Stephen's academic progress and his broader reading and intellectual ventures. Arguably, Joyce uses more complex language as Stephen is gradually liberated from the social constraints set upon him and develops his independence and own thoughts. While this is quite a clever instrument, it presents the reader with a problem of having to readjust him or herself to then follow the novel in its new form. It's almost as if the style and narrative voice will change once you've just got used to the one you're reading. Joyce, therefore, brings up important cultural and social issues but adapting to his way of introducing characters and the layout of dialogue, for example, takes a certain degree of attention that, in more conventional forms, would come more naturally and easily. Also, it is often difficult to know where the story has come to and from what perspective we're reading, as Joyce tends to skip ahead by a year or so quite freely, without much warning and the scattered indications are what force us to recalculate where we've come, only to be sure much later on in the chapter where we finally receive some sort of confirmation.

To sum up some of my thoughts, I felt this wasn't a difficult book to read for its plot but rather it kept presenting me with the challenge of working out what was happening, where had Stephen come in his life and how much time had passed and what had happened in the meantime. The style forces the reader to participate a bit more in the text in order to understand it better and follow it and this is both refreshing and sometimes demanding. I generally found it a fairly pleasant novel to read, giving me something a little different and quite a lot of variety without seeming unending.