A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is James Joyce's first novel, published in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch of New York. It is a revision of a long draft that Joyce called Stephen Hero, on which he had been working since 1904, concurrent with his writing and revising the fifteen stories that were published as Dubliners in 1914. The five chapters of A Portrait form the mostly autobiographical story of a sensitive boy becoming a determined young man, and their unique style, incorporating flights of stream of association, was a powerful influence on twentieth century literature. In this work, for the most part, Joyce eschews the allusion and word games that render his succeeding novels, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake difficult for the uninitiated reader.

In this four-week course, it is important to keep in touch with the class forum, as information will be posted there, and our discussion of the stories will be enhanced by asynchronous conversation. The forum is always open!

You can download a free copy of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from Project Gutenberg. Choose ebook for e-readers and tablets. PDF or HTML is probably best for laptops, Chromebooks, computers.

Instructor: Paul Kalkstein pkalkstein@gmail.com
Co-Host: Kernan Cross kernancross@gmail.com

Discussion Focus

Week 1: Chapter 1

Week 2: Chapter 2 and part of Chapter 3-- up to:
O grave where is thy victory?

Week 3: Chapter 3 (end) AND Chapter 4

Week 4: Chapter 5