A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. “The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's attention will be directed to those aspects of the young man's life that are fundamental to his artistic development” (Drew 276). Every event in Stephen's life, from the initial story of the cow to his experiences with religion and college, contributes to his growth as an artist. At the center of Stephen's life experiences are, of course, the people he interacts with, and paramount among these people are the women who, as his story progresses, reveal themselves to be a driving force behind Stephen's art . as the Artist progresses, the structure of the relationship between Stephen, women and art becomes increasingly clear. At one point in the novel, Stephen comes to the conclusion that his art involves "re-creating life from life" (434) and, at another, that he must "meet for the millionth time the reality of experience and forge it." my soul" (Joyce 526). He realizes that to fulfill his destiny as an artist, he must embrace life and the experiences in which it consists, because it is from experience that he builds his creations. In light of this revelation, Stephen's life becomes "a process of accumulating experience, as well as a struggle to free himself from those institutions that would prevent him from doing so" (Peake 64). For Stephen, inspiration requires experience, and it is through women that Stephen acquires the latter and, therefore, receives the former. PeakeStephen's relationship with the opposite sex begins to develop early in his life. In the first pages of the novel there are hints about the different roles that women will play... in the center of the paper. .. is Joyce. The Modern Library. 16:203. artist as a young man. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Kenner, Hugh. "Portrait of Joyce – A Reconsideration". The University of Windsor review. vol.1, no. 1. Spring, 1965. 1-15. Rpt. in twentieth-century literary criticism. and. Dennis Poupard. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. 16:229-234.Litz, A. Walton. James Joyce. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1966.Peake, C. H. James Joyce: The Citizen and the Artist. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1977. 56-109.Pope, Deborah. “The Error of Vision: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” James Joyce. vol.1. and. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 113-19.
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