Book · 1818 · Fiction
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Why people recommend it
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is a classic coming-of-age novel detailing the intellectual and spiritual awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, in Ireland. On an episode of The Daily Stoic in 2024, Ryan Holiday brought up the novel while discussing his own recent book and reflecting on how deeply engrossing and immersive the writing process was for him. In a different context on The Book Review podcast in 2024, Greg Coles referenced the character from Joyce's novel while discussing Ulysses, noting that he was naturally accustomed to thinking of Dedalus through the lens of this earlier work. Additionally, Karl Deisseroth mentioned the novel on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2022 while discussing Joyce's broader literary contributions. Deisseroth noted that he learned a significant amount about Irish history from reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, pointing to it as one of Joyce's more accessible works that effectively grounds personal narrative within a specific socio-historical and political landscape. Together, these podcast references illustrate the book's lasting impact as both a masterclass in psychological character development and an informative window into Irish history and culture.
Who recommended it
- Ryan Holiday Discussed
- Greg Coles Discussed
- Karl Deisseroth Discussed
Ryan Holiday — 1 mention
“and I think it was James Joyce like portrait of oh wow thanks it was a good experience”
Greg Coles — 1 mention
“because this he's the character and portrait of the Artist as a Young Man I'm accustomed to thinking of deus as the James Joyce character”
Karl Deisseroth — 1 mention
“you know i learned a lot about irish history from you know portrait of the artist as a young man”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- A New Stoicism
- Be the Parent, Please : Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat
- Finnegans Wake
- Forgive Me Not
- Projections
- The Art of Screen Time
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“he's also the protagonist of Joyce's debut novel portrait of the Artist as a Young Man so again you're bringing those associations into your reading of this book”
“this is from Joe Bigalow who writes and he writes about picking up James Joyce and reading a portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and ulyses”
“James Joyce is abroad and and hasn't even seen the American addition of portrait of the artist and is asking him you know can you try to get this over to me”