A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man traces the intellectual and spiritual development of Stephen Dedalus from sensitive child to aspiring writer in turn of the century Ireland. Through a shifting, increasingly complex narrative style, Joyce mirrors Stephen's growing consciousness as he grapples with family, religion, nationalism, and artistic vocation. The novel charts his struggle to break free from constraining identities and to forge a self defined by creative freedom.