A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) [Paperback]

James Joyce (Author), R. B. Kershner (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1992 | Series: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism

Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovative Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.

Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; 1st edition (December 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312061706
• ISBN-13: 978-0312061708
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,471,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Portait Whose Time Has Come and Gone.., January 30, 2004

By 

Gary C. Marfin (Sugar Land, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) (Paperback)

It is remarkable that such a well-crafted novel manages, as a story, to resonate so poorly. When was the last time someone referenced Stephen Dedalus in a conversation? Moby Dick, Holden Caufield, "the old man in Nabokov," Heller's Yosarian: all already have or will continue to enjoy an iconic status long after Portrait becomes the exclusive domain of a specialized readership. Portrait struck me less as a work of art to be experienced than a puzzle to be solved. Fraught with literary antecedents and allusions and word play it exemplifies the artist as cryptographer. On the plane of a puzzle, it's remarkably good fun. So, this puzzled me, and I'm sure that there is minor, obscure commentary either to answer or dismiss it as a question: When Mr. Dedalus claims that "silence, exile and cunning" shall be his weapons, what, if anything, in Portrait, with its extended conversation with the great books of the western canon, prepares us for the role of "silence" in the arsenal?

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a good book if you can get past a long section on hell, February 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) (Paperback)

Joyce's classic was required reading for my english class. This edition, especially the deconstruction essay included in it, promotes a better underatnding of the novel. The first 90 pages of the book keep the reader wanting more, the mind of this artist is looked into from a fascinating perspcetive. However, as the story progresses, religion and the Jesuit Church play such a large role in Stephen Dedalus' consciousness that the book becomes more about hell and confession than the about the art and the maturity of a semi-neurotic youth. The ending brings the book back to life and proves that the main character really is capable of being an artist--for he "writes" the last few pages of his own "portrait."