Portrait of the artist as a young man - James Joyce

BossArky

It being about a year since trawling though the depths of Ulysses I decided to pick up another Joyce book; "Portrait of the artist as a young man".

Currently still reading the intro after 2 days so thinking it is going to be slow going.

Anyone got an opinions/insights/tips/background info for reading it? Once finished I shall provide my own summary.

Hippo

A long time since I read it, but easily the most accessible of his work, and pretty readable and enjoyable. Hmm must re-read.....

Crucifix

I read it myself as I heard it was his most accessable work. I didn't enjoy it much.

Eoin

Hippo wrote:

A long time since I read it, but easily the most accessible of his work, and pretty readable and enjoyable. Hmm must re-read.....

Oh dear, if that's the most accessible of his books, I'm put right off the idea of trying any others.

It was our Leaving Cert book, which probably didn't help matters, but I just could not get into it at all. Normally, I liked the modern fiction part of the syllabus, but I did not enjoy it one bit.

Tchocky

Seemed, to me, to be a portrait of the Artist as a pretentious fop.
I can appreciate that it's a lot more direct then eg Ulysses, but there's a lot of ideas in A Portrait that I take a visceral dislike to.

Hippo

If you thought Portrait was tricky next time you're in a bookshop have a look at Finnegan's Wake, hilariously impossible!

BossArky

I must say that so far so good. The intro(by some professor on Irish & Joyce from the US) was heavy going, but the book seems fine.

I actually really enjoyed the first 30 pages and like the way the main character Stephen is thinking about things to himself in his head. It reminded me of being young and at school. Hopefully the rest of the book will continue to be as enjoyable.

I was ready for an impossible reading, based upon last years reading of Ulysses... maybe that is why I have been pleasantly suprised thus far with Portrait.

Faerie

Tchocky wrote:

Seemed, to me, to be a portrait of the Artist as a pretentious fop.

I couldn't agree more!
It's certainly easier to read than Ulysses, but unfortunately I didn't think it was the slightest bit enjoyable or even interesting. It's pretentious and boring, and I think he wrote with the simple intention of persuading people he was a genius.

Illkillya

BossArky wrote:

I must say that so far so good. The intro(by some professor on Irish & Joyce from the US) was heavy going, but the book seems fine.

I actually really enjoyed the first 30 pages and like the way the main character Stephen is thinking about things to himself in his head. It reminded me of being young and at school. Hopefully the rest of the book will continue to be as enjoyable.

I was ready for an impossible reading, based upon last years reading of Ulysses... maybe that is why I have been pleasantly suprised thus far with Portrait.

Ya no need to brace yourself for this one. Its not a difficult read once you get past the moocow.

InFront

Amazing amazing book. This was my first introduction to Joyce (5th Year Leaving Cert) and I have been almost obsessed about him since. The level of thought and detail that he put into the devlopment of Stephen - from grappling with the the earliest sensations (warm and cold), his primitive lyrical self "pull out his eyes/ apologize"... to his fledgling artistry, is baffling and impressive.
Such commitment as Joyce's was something that as a young reader I had never encountered before and was, as is so often encountered by Stephen in "A Portrait", a revelation.

Yes it is quite accessible (although more difficult that Dubliners, obviously). For me, I would consider this book as having brought me to the gateway of literary adventure (or misadventure you might argue:) ). Immense, inspiring and fantastic. I abolutely loved it.

One tip I would suggest is not to go looking up and analysing every obscure reference he makes, it can spoil the reading. Rather, at the end of the section/ setting (no chapters) consider what you have just read and then read over the references, and the terms that stuck out will all come together and make sense.

Overall, just enjoy it.

BossArky

Ok, I finished this book yesterday morning. I enjoyed the first half more - when Stephen is young and in school. Once he gets into his artistic debates I found the story starting to drag and didn't care too much what was going on.

I think this book should be read more as a journey than a destination, if that makes sense. i.e. the enjoyment is not in finding out what happens (as you already know that he is going to morph into a famous writer in later years), but in the language used to put the story across.

I like the way Dublin is described, makes me homesick (I'm not from Dublin but have wandered around there a bit)

7/10 - probably as I didn't "get" as much of the story as I should have which made it less enjoyable.

fate turner

i found portrait quite enjoyable. I love the stream of conciousness Joyce uses allowing the reader to follow Steven's maturation/ progression from within his own mind. Steven seems to me throughout the novel very black and white: he's either engaged in extreme sin or completely pietistic. Only in the end does Steven seem to rationalize as he discovers that through his writing he can prove that love and the desire for beauty (aesthetic) should be embraced rather than the object of shame.

InFront

I found the sermons, the period where Stephen was on retreat, quite challenging, in fact I think I just glazed over them without trying to get into much detail. I'm sure that was a big mistake on my part, but I was just dying to get on with it, and I felt my attention waning quite a bit there.

It's not really about the story, there isn't a plot, and I think the book is stronger for it. APAYM resembles more a piece of art that grows and grows in symbolism and significance the longer you look at it. The book isn't about getting from A to B at all, and in that sense, is very unique.