3 Review(s)

This first novel of the author, semi- autobiography, depicts the story of a young Irish boy Stephen Dedalus, essentially-. his intellectual and religio-philosophical awakening to his social, familial constraints and his entry into a broader world. Being the oldest son of an impoverished father and a highly devout Catholic mother, he struggles to come to terms with his family, his nation, and his religion, and finally leaves his motherland to seek his identity. This young man has myriad of experiences; from his encounters as a leader at his college, as a young man given to lust, and as a young man given to fanatic religion, he recognises his love for beauty, and turns to nature and art. He attains mental maturity as he realises his constraints in the name of nation, religion and family. He leaves Ireland to pursue his life as a writer. Infusing modernistic techniques of literature, especially the 'stream of consciousness technique, the novel is loaded with themes like constraints and entrapment and their resultant outcomes like sense of independence and escape.