A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce 1882 -1941

Stephen Dedalus – name comes from the Greek myth of Dedalus and Icarus and St. Stephen, Christian martyr • First memories are of language – father’s story

Stages of emerging consciousness • Hearing –story of the moocow • Sight – father’s face • Taste – lemon platt • Touch – warm, cold bed • Smell – oilsheet

Michael Davitt – catholic, founded the Land League, tried to make Ireland socialist – maroon brush • Charles Stuart Parnell – protestant, Irish Nationalist leader – green brush • Apologise – guilt/repression – example of chiasmus • “greaves in his number” – shinguards in his locker

Attention to words – “dog-in-the-blanket,” “belt,” “toe in the rump” • Mother – warm, nice, comforting, smells better than father • Father – story-teller, code of conduct • P.4 – thinking of Spelling Book as literature – aesthetic distinction • Complete acceptance of church – Father Arnall

Suck – sycophant – flatterer “suck up” – physical sensations associated with thinking about words –watch for this throughout • P. 5 – York and Lancaster – English, not Irish names • Yellow, red, green roses – artist’s daydreams – aesthetic beauty • Awareness of social distinctions – friends’ fathers’ jobs

Pp. 6,7 – “Do you kiss your mother?” – early childhood confused ideas of sexuality • St. Aloysius Gonzaga – patron saint of James Aloysius Joyce- too pure even to kiss his mother

Sees self as center of Ptolemaic universe P. 7 aesthetic judgment of poetry P. 10 – Goes to bed cold, shivers; thoughts are of scary things – bed warms, so do his thoughts Major events – going to school, taking ill, going home for the holidays, death of Parnell, breaking of his glasses

P. 14 - aesthetic beauty of words; physical response to poetry Illness – chance to read in the infirmary Interest in words again – riddles First thoughts of his family’s poverty

Christmas dinner – • Father identifies himself as Irish catholic • Parnell wanted an Ireland where religion didn’t matter – like USA • Politics, religion – adult conversation • Mr. Casey – “making a birthday present for Queen Victoria” – he’d been in prison • Dante – firm believer in the power of religious authority

“pope’s nose” = rump of the turkey • Eileen – off limits because she’s protestant • Trying to understand the rules – boys being punished for smugging in the square • Stephen unfairly punished for not having his glasses

Order imposed by brute force – threat of more beatings every day • Peer pressure to protest his innocence • Finally asserts self as individual • Restores his trust in institutional order • Last lines repeat of p. 27 – incremental repetition – how much has changed since then. • Chapter ends with a sense of joy, self-pride – sharply constrasted in next chapter

Chapter II – working with his uncle • Begins to view the world around him critically – no longer sees himself as pious as others (his uncle) • Studies words as a means to enter into the world of adults • Romantic – Mercedes from The Count of Monte Cristo • Decline in family finances keeps him from school

Stephen no longer sees himself as a child – he’s annoyed by the sounds of children at play • Feels a sense of unrest that he can’t identify • Searches for his future in the form of an epiphany • Move to Dublin – furniture being reclaimed, uncle unstable, wandering the streets of Dublin as in a maze (labyrinth)

Becoming isolated – a loner – “he began to taste the joy of his loneliness.” • Begins a flirtation with an unknown girl – disappoints himself by his reluctance to act • Poetry – an attempt to turn reality into a poem – love, politics • Earns a reputation for writing essays • Scene outside the play interrupted by memory

Admit – apologise • Feels personally the power of words • P. 58 – summary of life to this point • Trip with his father – shift in his reality – vision of his father changes – vision of himself changes • Beginning of sense of self as an artist • Sexual shame – mortal sin

Visit to a prostitute – language fails him- relief, no longer shame • Movement from • Intellectual • Artistic • Spiritual • Sexual awakening

Chapter III sermons: • Spiritual torments of hell • Deprived of divine light – greatest loss • Conscience – memory of past pleasures, sorrow for sins committed, knowledge that you failed to repent • Pain of extension – torment of imagination of what is to come coupled with what one is experiencing • Eternity of hell

Confession, followed by realization that he will fall p. 116 • Pride before his fall – he will know the secrets of the religion, sees himself as a celebrant of mass in a “church without worshippers” • P. 113 – “A flame began to flutter again…” • Image of the priest in chapter IV is that of a skeletal head before a noose

Images – • cerements (death) • Birds (Icarus) • Water (rebirth) • Bridge (crossing from one life to another) • Epiphany – p. 123 – He will not be a priest, but will be an artist.

Chapter V – mimics mass • University – 20 yrs. Old • Broken clock – no longer bother to fix things that are broken • National poet of Ireland – Thomas Moore • Davin’s story of temptation • Philosophical discussion of beauty • Meaning of words – lamp, funnel, tundish, • home, Christ, ale, master

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man