A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manis thefirst novelof Irish writerJames Joyce. It is the semi-autobiographical portrayal of James Joyces early upbringing as an Irish Catholic in late 19thcentury and early 20thcentury Dublin. In his first and still most widely read novel, James Joyce makes a strange peace with the traditional narrative of a young mans self-discovery by respecting its substance while exploding its form, thereby inaugurating a literary revolution.
The novel begins with the confidence, ease and innocence of a story told to a child and ends with a tone that is hesitant, suspicious, fragmented and estranged. Between the two comes the education of one Stephen Dedalus, as the nets of race, religion and family attempt to ensnare his tender soul and complex imagination.
The publication of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and the short story collection Dublinersearned Joyce a place at the forefront of literary modernism.