Stephen Dedalus grows from a devout Catholic boy into a young man who rejects family, faith, and nation to become an artist. A semi-autobiographical account of an intellectual awakening.
Books mentioned in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (8)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: “His evenings were his own; and he pored over a ragged translation of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.”
The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: “What are you reading now, captain? Dixon asked. _The Bride of Lammermoor?_ —I love old Scott, the flexible lips said, I think he writes something lovely.”
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: “MacCann, with one hand on _The Origin of Species_ and the other hand on the new testament, tells you that you admired the great flanks of Venus”
Laocoön by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: “The Laocoon interested me very much when I read it.”
Peter Parley's Tales about Greece and Rome by Samuel Griswold Goodrich: “History was all about those men and what they did and that was what Peter Parley's Tales about Greece and Rome were all about.”
Cornwell's Spelling Book by James Cornwell: “And there were nice sentences in Doctor Cornwell's Spelling Book.”
Diseases of the Ox: “--With guns and cattle, added Stephen, pointing to the titlepage of Cranly's book on which was printed DISEASES OF THE OX.”
Books that mention A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (5)
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “He was puzzled and depressed by “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man””
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: “[29] James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (New York: The Modern Library; Random House, Inc.).”
On James Baldwin by Colm Tóibín: “Even the religion in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man seemed remote”
The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth: “He taught them...Portrait of the Artist, King Lear, The Autobiography of Benvenuio Cellini—taught them all like holy books”
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner: “'Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow... In the opening of Joyce's Portrait'”