Modernism in Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man

Abstract

This paper investigated modernist in Joyce’s a portrait of the artists as young man. The findings of the study showed that Joyce did not tell a story with a coherent plot and a traditional beginning, middle, and end. Instead of that he used the stream of consciousness technique to select crucial moments in the life of Dedalus. By doing that, Joyce refused the chronologically ordered plot that characterized most of the novels in the nineteenth century. This technique of narration led to a revolution in the form of novels and opened the door to a deeper and more comprehensive study of the inner parts of characters. Also, the results of the study indicated that the stream of consciousness and the interior monologue built the novel through the representation of the ideas, dreams and imaginations of the major character. Finally, the book can be read as both a representation of Joyce's life and a declaration of liberty from all the conventions and norms that controlled the novel as a literary form.

Keywords: Modernist, Joyce, Portrait, Artist and Literary Movement.

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/54-04

Publication date:March 31^st 2019