A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce wurde am 2. Februar 1882 in Dublin geboren, wo er in schwierigen und ärmlichen Familienverhältnissen aufwuchs. Joyce studierte am University College von Dublin moderne Sprachen, u.a. Englisch, Französisch und Italienisch. 1902 ging er nach Paris, um ein Medizinstudium zu beginnen. Er wandte sich dort aber dem Schreiben zu und führte einen ausschweifenden Lebensstil. 1903 kehrte er nach Dublin zurück, konnte dort jedoch nicht Fuß fassen. Mit seiner Geliebten und späteren Ehefrau Nora Barnacle siedelte er 1904 auf den Kontinent über und lebte hauptsächlich in Triest. 1914 erschien Joyces erste Kurzgeschichtensammlung. Nach Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkrieges zog er mit seiner Familie nach Zürich. 1920 zog Joyce auf Einladung seines Freundes Ezra Pound nach Paris, wo er bis zu Frankreichs Besetzung im Zweiten Weltkrieg lebte. James Joyce starb am 13. Januar 1941 in Zürich.

'Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo '

So begins one of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, and one of the most innovative. Its originality shocked contemporary readers on its publication in 1916 who found its treating of the minutiae of daily life indecorous, and its central character unappealing. Was it art or was it filth?

The novel charts the intellectual, moral, and sexual development of Stephen Dedalus, from his childhood listening to his father's stories through his schooldays and adolescence to the brink of adulthood and independence, and his awakening as an artist. Growing up in a Catholic family in Dublin in the final years of the nineteenth century, Stephen's consciousness is forged by Irish history and politics, by Catholicism and culture, language and art. Stephen's story mirrors that of Joyce himself, and the novel is both startlingly realistic and brilliantly crafted.

For this edition Jeri Johnson, editor of the acclaimed Ulysses 1922 text, has written an introduction and notes which together provide a comprehensive and illuminating appreciation of Joyce's artistry.

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One of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, and one of the most innovative. Young Irish Catholic, Stephen Dedalus, rejects religion and national ties to develop unfettered as an artist. Stronly autobiographical, the novel is one of the founding texts of Modernism and the precursor of Ulysses.