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Title: A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (Twentieth-Century Classics) by James Joyce, Seamus Deane ISBN: 0-14-018683-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: April, 1903 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (167 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Extremely fluid, unbelievably incomprehensible prose
Comment: Considered perhaps the finest example of 20th century literature, this is the enormously frustrating, mind-numbingly convoluted, semi-autobiographical expression of one man's spiritual and intellectual awakening. I feared this book for years, and rightfully so. While the prose is immensely fluid - so much so that you barely notice the fact that you've easily read several paragraphs without understanding a word of it - the substance will prove more of a challenge than most intelligent readers are looking for. Unless one devotes an enormous amount of mental energy to close examination of this text, a basic understanding of the plot and message is the most the average reader will come away with. Alas, I opted for the easy way out, and as such, I'm sure there is plenty in this novel that eludes me.
Joyce creates the character of Stephen Dedalus to describe his own experience as a boy growing into manhood. Joyce first examines Stephen's youth, giving careful attention to his family life and upbringing as powerful defining forces in his life. He then focuses on Stephen's spiritual development during his years at a strict religious boys' school. The latter part of the book explores Stephen's embarking on adulthood, as he presides over a battle inside himself between religious faith and intellectual pursuit. It is in this phase of his life that the artist, the writer, emerges victorious.
How this all happens, however, is a cloudy, murky mess, unless you bothered to re-read passages several times and consult secondary sources that might offer insights into the book. While the writing is beautiful, it is also choppy. And while the substance may very well be brilliant, it is often too obscure to be appreciated. Surely that was Joyce's intention. This novel was meant to explore uncharted territory in form and structure, and Joyce has certainly done that.
I will say this much - it wasn't as difficult as I had feared. Despite its inherent challenges, this book is a quick read and is by no means unpleasant. It's simply unsatisfying to invest time and energy in a book, and then come away with only a partial understanding of it.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must-Read "Artist's" Manual
Comment: James Joyce's A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN has been credited variously as the harbinger of the modern novel, the first novel to employ stream-of-consciousness writing, and as the most notable of the Künstlerroman genre--novels in which the principle character develops an artistic temperament in defiant opposition to all forces suppressant to creativity. In the case of young Stephen Daedelus--the budding "artist" of A PORTRAIT--Religion, Country and Nationalism are the labyrinthine obstacles to creative freedom. This semi-autobiographical novel is a specular example of an artist finding his way in the world -- and it's a book I implore you read! Especially for all you writers out there! Other recent Amazon purchases I recommend: The Ginger Man, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating: 4
Summary: Demonstrates why Joyce is so highly thought of
Comment: This is my first Joyce book to read. I had high expectations. It was difficult to get a feel for his writing initially, but I finally got into the rythm of it and it started to flow.
The book does not have much action; it is introspection and dialogue and remembrances that all run together. It is unique and exhilirating to read, but is not a page turner as many top-rated books of today are. It reads more like a memoir than a novel, and according to accounts I read, it is a story similar to Joyce's own.
I was able to relate to the tension between living a secular versus a religious life.
I think for serious readers, this book has to be on the must-read list.
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Title: Dubliners by James Joyce ISBN: 0486268705 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: August, 1991 List Price(USD): $1.50 |
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Title: Ulysses (Vintage International) by James Joyce, Erroll McDonald, Morris L. Ernst ISBN: 0679722769 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: June, 1990 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad ISBN: 0486264645 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: August, 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: March, 1990 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, John Bishop ISBN: 0141181265 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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