Modernism in Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man

Malik Mahadin ,Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi

doi:10.7176/jlll/54-04

Abstract

This paper investigated modernist in Joyce’s a portrait of the artists as young man. The findings of the study showed that Joyce did not tell a story with a coherent plot and a traditional beginning, middle, and end. Instead of that he used the stream of consciousness technique to select crucial moments in the life of Dedalus. By doing that, Joyce refused the chronologically ordered plot that characterized most of the novels in the nineteenth century. This technique of narration led to a revolution in the form of novels and opened the door to a deeper and more comprehensive study of the inner parts of characters. Also, the results of the study indicated that the stream of consciousness and the interior monologue built the novel through the representation of the ideas, dreams and imaginations of the major character. Finally, the book can be read as both a representation of Joyce's life and a declaration of liberty from all the conventions and norms that controlled the novel as a literary form. Keywords : Modernist, Joyce, Portrait, Artist and Literary Movement. DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/54-04 Publication date :March 31 st 2019

Highlights

The Irish writer and poet James Joyce is undoubtedly considered as one of the leaders in the modern fiction
The paper tried to count for the modern aspects in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The experienced reader will conclude that Joyce did not tell a story with a coherent plot and a traditional beginning, middle, and end

Summary

Introduction

The Irish writer and poet James Joyce is undoubtedly considered as one of the leaders in the modern fiction. Joyce indicated that it was only one portrait of many that could have been portrayed depending on the perspective from which the reader looks at the artist He gives his readers the ability to see and judge the life of Dedalus by exposing to them the inner part of the character and excluding himself from narrating the events of the story by using his own voice. The story of the novel narrates – as mentioned previously – the life of an artist from his tender years to the years of maturity It concentrates on the spiritual liberation of Stephen Dedalus from the bonds of family, nationality, and religion, which formed the major characteristics of his society. His inner life and his environment were alien to each other and that was skillfully portrayed by Joyce when Dedalus as mentioned earlier constantly reminded himself of his place in the universe by writing the following lines on his books:

Sallins County Kildare

Conclusion