A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in Never too Late to Read Classics

May 12, 2015 Alexander rated it it was amazing

This book is straight cash. I can't add anything new to what has been said, but this is a window into Joyce's own struggles with the Irish Catholic church and trying to figure out how to lead his life. There's a lot less about his art than I would have thought, but his artistic philosophies do permeate into his ways of thinking. This is an exploration of the impact of religion on upbringing. ...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was in high school in the mid-80's. I was discovering and loving the band U2. Me being me, I was not happy with just listening to their albums (yep, record albums. Remember them?), and I was looking into all things Irish, art, literature, history. So of course I stumbled upon James Joyce. I picked up paperback copies of the above, Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses. I feel like they were all in the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble (also gone the way of 'records'). Other than the vague memory it was ab I was in high school in the mid-80's. I was discovering and loving the band U2. Me being me, I was not happy with just listening to their albums (yep, record albums. Remember them?), and I was looking into all things Irish, art, literature, history. So of course I stumbled upon James Joyce. I picked up paperback copies of the above, Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses. I feel like they were all in the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble (also gone the way of 'records'). Other than the vague memory it was about some kid growing up in Dublin, I had no real memory of reading it, so I read it again. During my first read in the 80's I had underlined precisely one sentence. Presumably because it was incomprehensible. Well, 35 or so years later, I have not made much progress, it was still incomprehensible. I did try to read Finnegan's Wake, never finished. I've never even tried with Ulysses (though elitist I does enjoy having it on the bookshelf). So, what does 53 year old me think of Stephen Dedalus? He's kind of a nit-wit -- the way we all were between 17 and 25. I found the middle chapter, the horrific sermon on the finer points of hell, fairly shocking. I hadn't been exposed to that kind of "religion" in years. Does anyone still believe that? Does anyone still preach that? Around the time I read this book in high school was also the time I was becoming an atheist - so maybe this book actually pushed me in that direction. Thanks for that James. The genders were rigidly separated in this culture, but the male centric-ness really bothered me. The only female character to get multiple speaking lines was the Aunt who rather cravenly choose her faith over her politics. The boys and young men are, of course, obsessed with sex, but have no clue. At an early point, Stephan even wonders if its proper to kiss his mother goodnight when he's teased by other boys. Pretty much the only women these young men come into contact with are mothers, sisters, or possibly servants. Ugh. Good thing young Stephan left. ...more

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