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Work #826 · Mid

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce
1903-15 (composed); 1914-15 (serialized in The Egoist); 1916 (book) · English
Modernist Künstlerroman / Bildungsroman · Early-twentieth-century anglophone modernism

Joyce's 1916 modernist Künstlerroman — Stephen Dedalus's emergence as artist

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Single
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The developmental time of Stephen's formation.

Space

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Clongowes, Belvedere, UCD, the streets of Dublin.

Matter

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The embodied developing self.

Observer

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Stephen Dedalus emerging as artist.

Energy

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Energies of vocation and renunciation.

Information

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The mutating prose-style as Stephen's developing mind.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce's Portrait: foundational for anglophone modernist fiction; the direct ancestor of Ulysses (1922) and a defining Künstlerroman.