For the centennial of its original publication, a beautiful Deluxe Edition of one of Joyce’s greatest works—featuring an introduction by Karl Ove Knausgaard, author the six-volume New York Times bestselling global literary phenomenon My Struggle, which has been likened to a 21st-century Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The first, shortest, and most approachable of James Joyce’s novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man portrays the Dublin upbringing of Stephen Dedalus, from his youthful days at Clongowes Wood College to his radical questioning of all convention. In doing so, it provides an oblique self-portrait of the young Joyce himself. At its center lie questions of origin and source, authority and authorship, and the relationship of an artist to his family, culture, and race. Exuberantly inventive in style, the novel subtly and beautifully orchestrates the patterns of quotation and repetition instrumental in its hero’s quest to create his own character, his own language, life, and art: “to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”

This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, published for the novel’s centennial, is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from all known proofs, manuscripts, and impressions to reflect the author’s original wishes.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

詹姆斯·乔伊斯(1882—1941)是爱尔兰著名的现代派小说家，他历时七载完成了代表作《尤利西斯》(1922)。小说的主人公布卢姆是都柏林一家报纸的广告推销员，作者用许多逼真的细节描写这个彷徨苦闷的小市民和他寻欢作乐的妻子莫莉以及寻找精神之父的青年学生斯蒂芬这三个人一昼夜中的经历，实质上是现代西方社会中人的孤独与绝望的写照。作者把小说的主人公和荷马史诗《奥德修记》中的英雄尤利西斯(即奥德修斯)相比拟．把他在都柏林的游荡和尤利西斯的十年漂泊相比拟。

乔伊斯在《尤利西斯》中广泛运用了“意识流“的创作手法，形成一种崭新的风格，成为现代派小说的先驱。他不仅在遣词造句方面刻意创新，而且运用了大量的典故、引语和神话。小说出版后，其中某些词句被认为“淫秽”而受到指摘，因此长期被禁止在英美发行，直到1933年这部巨著才得以公开与英美读者见面。

译者研究本书多年，其译文忠实流畅，而且还对众多典故、引语等作了详尽的注释。