"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A Künstlerroman in a modernist style, it traces the intellectual and religious philosophical awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter ego of Joyce and an allusion to Daedalus, the consummate craftsman of Greek mythology. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe. The work uses techniques that Joyce developed more fully in "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake".

James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish writer. He is considered one of the most important literary figures of the twentieth century. He spent most of his life abroad, mainly in France and Switzerland. He made his debut with the collection of poems "Chamber Music" in 1907,  which was later followed by the short story collection "Dubliners" (1914) and the novels: "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (1916), "Ulysses" (1922) and "Finnegans Wake" (1939). His most famous work is undoubtedly "Ulysses", often referred to as the "Odyssey" of the twentieth century. It remains one of the most innovative novels in the history of literature to this day.