A prime case of the Künstlerroman in the English literature, Joyce's novel traces a intellect & religio-philosophical waking up of immature Stephen Dedalus when he begins to wonder & rebel against the Catholic and Irish conventions he has been brought up inside. He eventually leaves for Paris to pursue his calling as an artist.

Joyce wrote an early version of novel when Stephen Hero, which he abandoned within 1905. This uncomplete foremost draft was published posthumously within 1944.

A book is virtually all noted for its stream-of-consciousness style that sets out to mirror what a protagonist is thinking. Since a operate covers a protagonist ageing from either a immature kid to a human, the style of the operate differs inside both of its 5 sections, by owning the complexness & vocabulary bit by bit increasing. Stylistically, a novel is mostly written as a third person narrative, though towards the prevent of the book dialogue and finally journal entries by Stephen come relied in instead to mirror his alienation from either society.

A book is placed around Joyce's native Ireland, especially in Dublin. It deals by owning numerous Irish issues like a baby autonomy and the role of the Catholic church.

A title has been plagiarised & parodied by numerous writers including Dylan Thomas in his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.