James Joyce - Retrato do Artista quando Jovem

Part of a triptych that also includes Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man explores the spiritual formation of the Irish adolescent Stephan Dedalus and his process of rebellion against the rigid Catholic education he undergoes.

If in Ulysses discovery occurs primarily through time, here it is space that represents the field of exploration. Dublin emerges as the labyrinthine city whose streets, bridges, sidewalks, and doors symbolize the meanderings of the subconscious of a misunderstood and wounded young man, in search of his freedom.

Intelligent, ironic, and full of sensitivity, this was James Joyce's first published novel, in 1916, announcing an originality that would forever mark the history of literature.