A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man »

You know an author is powerful when his name becomes a literary adjective; and "Joycean" is regularly applied to the countless writers James Joyce has influenced as one of the 20th century's greatest writers. His flowing, sometimes musical, often challenging prose -- most famously in the epic Ulysses -- has provoked and inspired readers.

James Joyce's semi-autobiographical first novel follows Stephen Dedalus, a sensitive and creative youth who rebels against his family, his education, and his country by committing himself to the artist's life.

Introduction