Vintage International Series

"[...] -Of the offence to me, Stephen answered. Buck Mulligan swung round on his heel. -O, an impossible person! he exclaimed. He walked off quickly round the parapet. Stephen stood at his post, gazing over the calm sea towards the headland. Sea and headland now grew dim. Pulses were beating in his eyes, veiling their sight, and he felt the fever of his cheeks. A voice within the tower called loudly: -Are you up there, Mulligan? -I'm coming, Buck Mulligan answered. He turned towards Stephen and said: -Look at the sea. What does it care about offences? Chuck Loyola, Kinch, and come on down. The Sassenach wants his morning rashers. His head halted again for a moment at the top of the staircase, level with the roof: -Don't mope over it all day, he said. I'm inconsequent. Give up the moody brooding. His head vanished but the drone of his descending voice boomed out of the[...]."

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

by James Joyce

Published 1 January 1916

Discover James Joyce's impressionistic portrait of a young man finding his artistic voice in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, reissued to coincide with 100 years since the first publication of his epic masterpiece, Ulysses

EDITED BY HANS WALTER GABLER; WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY DR DIETER FUCHS AND JOSEPH O'CONNOR

Against the backdrop of nineteenth century Dublin, a boy becomes a man: his mind testing its powers, obsessions taking hold and loosening again, the bonds of family, tradition, nation and religion transforming from supports into shackles; until the young man devotes himself to the celebration of beauty, and reaches for independence and the life of an artist.