A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the first novel of James Joyce, which is written in a modernist style and in the form of Künstlerroman. As a modernist writer, Joyce uses the stream-of-consciousness technique to mirror the development of infant Stephen and make the story multidimensional. The novel is regarded as semi-autobiographical; however, Stephen is the fictional double of Joyce himself. While reading the story we see that Joyce creates an ironic distance between himself- who is a mature artist- and Stephen – who is an immature artist-. We see modern issues like breaking away from traditional values, religious awareness, finding true vacation, and exploring life. The novel is the perfect example for Künstlerroman because the main character Stephen undergoes a series of awakenings and developments as emotionally, spiritually, and creatively.
