Book Review: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Book Review: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce Whenever scholars discuss the most difficult books to read, James Joyce is usually in the top five. Casual readers will attempt reading his magnum opus Ulysses as if it were a 10K, not realizing a work of that caliber is more like a marathon, requiring training in literary scholarship. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a better piece for intermediate or seasoned readers to be introduced to James Joyce style of writing. While it is still deeply symbolic, subliminal, and disorienting, like other modernist literature, the book’s short length, single protagonist, and autobiographical nature of the narrative lends to an easier excavation of his masterful work. Dealing with themes of religion, nationalism, and artistic freedom, Portrait of the Artist is a short novella written by a lover of literature for lovers of literature. Why is it Difficult? The modernist literary movement of the late nineteenth ce...
