First published in 1916, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the masterpieces of modern fiction. James Joyce’s semi-autobiographical first novel, this is the story of Stephen Dedalus, a sensitive and creative youth who rebels against his family, his education, and his country by committing himself to artistic life. Joyce’s brilliant rendering of the impressions and experiences of childhood broke new ground in the use of language and in the structure of the novel. As the coming-of-age story of an extraordinary young man, James Joyce’s modern classic has become one of the twentieth century’s most popular works of fiction. As a bold literary experiment, it has had an important and lasting influence on the contemporary novel.