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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
It took a second reading (and about a year's passing) for me to appreciate this book completely.
It's definitely not as technically brilliant as Ulysses or even certain stories in Dubliners (The Dead, for example, my own personal favorite from the collection), but it holds a new, special place in my heart. Probably because I relate to Stephen Dedalus more than I reasonably should.
It's definitely not as technically brilliant as Ulysses or even certain stories in Dubliners (The Dead, for example, my own personal favorite from the collection), but it holds a new, special place in my heart. Probably because I relate to Stephen Dedalus more than I reasonably should.
it's fucking boring, bro just has catholic guilt...like i don't give a fuck (also james joyce piše jebene propovijedi u knjizi)
Read this when I was about thirteen and didn’t remember or, probably, understand it. This time around I just felt the prose wasn’t as fun as I want/expect out of Joyce, it was just sort of flatly functional. Stephen Dedalus is a total pissant. But it was pretty good, got to flag a lot of pages for thinking about nationalism/separatism/myth stuff.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"And still you hold our longing gaze
With languorous look and lavish limb!
Are you not weary of ardent ways?
Tell no more of enchanted days."
With languorous look and lavish limb!
Are you not weary of ardent ways?
Tell no more of enchanted days."
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"A cold lucid indifference reigned in his soul. At his first violent sin he had felt a wave of vitality pass out of him and had feared to find his body or his soul maimed by the excess. Instead the vital wave had carried him on its bosom out of himself and back again when it receded: and no part of body or soul had maimed, but a dark peace had been established between them. The chaos in which his ardour extinguished itself was a cold indifferent knowledge of himself."
There are a few things to recognize about this book. The first is that, because it is written stream of consciousness style and is about the development of a person and technically without plot, there is very little which makes you want to turn the page asides from the beauty of the prose. That said, it is very beautifully written, and although it is my first experience with Joyce I am planning to pursue some of his other works (Ulysses, Dubliners) in the future.
This loosely autobiographical novel seemed much longer than its 253 pages due to the density of the words and the language used. I often found myself having to reread the same sentence in order to full digest it, and in fact see myself rereading the entire book at some point. That said, I did read the book over a period of several months (I started in in January) and had I finished it faster I might have found myself less lost. I do find that Joyce can go on at length on certain topics, such as religion, for a bit too long, but I realize that may be the nature of this style of writing. When reading this book I do think it is important not to try view it as something to be cut into sections- beginning, middle and end, but rather as a continuous journey one which flows smoothly from page to page. In that sense, the title of this book is certainly accurate as it is definitely a portrait of the artist, one with many details. Although I often felt like I had no idea what was going on, I remained in awe of Joyce's ability to paint an image of a character far more profound than just the surface.
I definitely had difficulty reading some of the book, but a friend reassured me that if I wasn't confused when reading Joyce, I wasn't reading Joyce. Additionally, my edition (from 1961) which I bought secondhand did not include footnotes explaining the Latin quotations used in the novel, which is something I would recommend for anyone else picking up the book. I can't comment on whether or not the Latin bits were important to the development of the story because I don't know what they said.
I decided to read this book because of what I had heard of Joyce's influence on writing and his interesting influence particularly regarding the technique of using stream of consciousness. Although the book is written in the third person, it is written from the perspective of Stephen (the artist), and actually switches to first person through use of some dairy entries near the end. This combination of techniques has certainly had tremendous influence on literature, that is certainly not the only reason to pick this book up- it is also poetically beautiful and provides an interesting look into growing up in the early 1900s. ****
There are a few things to recognize about this book. The first is that, because it is written stream of consciousness style and is about the development of a person and technically without plot, there is very little which makes you want to turn the page asides from the beauty of the prose. That said, it is very beautifully written, and although it is my first experience with Joyce I am planning to pursue some of his other works (Ulysses, Dubliners) in the future.
This loosely autobiographical novel seemed much longer than its 253 pages due to the density of the words and the language used. I often found myself having to reread the same sentence in order to full digest it, and in fact see myself rereading the entire book at some point. That said, I did read the book over a period of several months (I started in in January) and had I finished it faster I might have found myself less lost. I do find that Joyce can go on at length on certain topics, such as religion, for a bit too long, but I realize that may be the nature of this style of writing. When reading this book I do think it is important not to try view it as something to be cut into sections- beginning, middle and end, but rather as a continuous journey one which flows smoothly from page to page. In that sense, the title of this book is certainly accurate as it is definitely a portrait of the artist, one with many details. Although I often felt like I had no idea what was going on, I remained in awe of Joyce's ability to paint an image of a character far more profound than just the surface.
I definitely had difficulty reading some of the book, but a friend reassured me that if I wasn't confused when reading Joyce, I wasn't reading Joyce. Additionally, my edition (from 1961) which I bought secondhand did not include footnotes explaining the Latin quotations used in the novel, which is something I would recommend for anyone else picking up the book. I can't comment on whether or not the Latin bits were important to the development of the story because I don't know what they said.
I decided to read this book because of what I had heard of Joyce's influence on writing and his interesting influence particularly regarding the technique of using stream of consciousness. Although the book is written in the third person, it is written from the perspective of Stephen (the artist), and actually switches to first person through use of some dairy entries near the end. This combination of techniques has certainly had tremendous influence on literature, that is certainly not the only reason to pick this book up- it is also poetically beautiful and provides an interesting look into growing up in the early 1900s. ****
Fucking loved this but need to re-read one day, got a 32% on the SparkNotes quiz
On a second read, the beginning and end was better. Middle was worse though, got a 40 on the quiz due to exhaustion
On a second read, the beginning and end was better. Middle was worse though, got a 40 on the quiz due to exhaustion
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character