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"Manifestation of Epiphanies in 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'"

Article in Reci Beograd · January 2013

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 217

MANIFESTATION OF EPIPHANIES IN A PORTRAIT

OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
I. KOVAČEVIĆ

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a seminal autobiographical

work written by James Joyce. Due to its importance as a modernist
English novel, much has already been explored in regard to its contents;
however, one specific feature, which this paper hopes to further address
and elaborate on, is the concept of epiphany and how it relates to the
work as a whole, especially concerning the development of the main
character of the novel, Stephen Dedalus.

Key words: epiphany, James Joyce, character development,

autobiography, art

1 . J O Y C E ’ S C O N C E P T O F E P I P H A N Y . – 1 . 1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N . – James
Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from 1907 until its final and full
publication in 1916 (though it was serialized in 1914/1915 in The Egoist).1
It emerged from his uncompleted and abandoned manuscript Stephen Hero which he
ceased major work on in 1904,2the manuscript of which is ubiquitous with a similar
use of imagery, events, and literary devices that appear in Joyce’s later works,
especially Dubliners and A Portrait. Naturally, this fact need not prove striking to
even the lay Joycean, as Joyce wrote semi-autobiographical fiction, using his past
through a self-fictionalized lens in the process of creating his works and characters.
What is of note, however, is the use of multiple epiphanies throughout Joyce’s works
in which their reliable and recurrent appearance was clearly a form in which Joyce
wished to express his literary ideas. To wit, this paper seeks to demonstrate the
significance of the use of epiphany in A Portrait to shape the philosophy and personal
identity of the main character – Stephen Dedalus, as revealed and reflected upon in
the progression of the novel.
Concerning epiphany, there is an allusion to Joyce’s ideas regarding its use in his
early, posthumously published manuscript, Stephen Hero: “By an epiphany he meant
a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in
a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to
record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most

1
See: Coyle 1997: James Joyce: Ulysses / A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (A
reader’s guide to essential criticism). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. p. 9
2
See: Ibid.

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delicate and evanescent of moments” [Joyce 1944: 211]3. Given this quote, it can be
seen that Joyce must have thought epiphanies to be important moments worth noting,
even if they were brief and ephemeral in nature. Moreover, the allusion to a “phase of
the mind itself” demonstrates how he viewed epiphany as relevant to the character’s
thinking – at least in a character’s mindset. For Joyce, epiphany was something to
capture and further dwell on.
Moreover, as the citation above originates from one of Joyce’s earlier works, and as it
will be seen that he used epiphanies to a greater extent in his later works (specifically,
in A Portrait) it can be further deduced that epiphany for him was an important
moment in his characters’ development which he seized upon to utilize as a literary
device. Thus, as far as Joyce as a writer is concerned, it can readily be noted that he
would draw on small events presented in the novel to further explore the character, by
investigating, reviewing them and the importance they have to the character. In this
manner, Joyce creates an experience as an epiphany and – in the process – a novel.
Therefore, for the purposes of this essay and analyzing the work of Joyce, an
epiphany can be further defined as a “spiritual manifestation”, “personal revelation”
or “process of enlightenment” which opens new horizons by allowing a character to
find greater insight into a specific area or topic by first presenting a device or event
that acts as a revelation to this person, which will later be realized after having been
reviewed.

1 . 2 . T H E O R E T I C A L B A C K G R O U N D . – In literary criticism on James Joyce’s

oeuvre, epiphany is exclusively referenced in its utilization to denote “the process of
enlightenment” in his characters. Though many scholars do interpret epiphany
differently, in its broadest sense it indicates spiritual manifestation or, as explored
here in this paper, a character’s self-revelation, i.e. the character’s self-reflection upon
their own fictionalized existence.
To understand how epiphany plays an essential role in A Portrait, it is first important
to outline what exactly an epiphany is considered to be. In a more classical sense
according to Florence L. Walzl, as presented in his paper on the epiphanies in Joyce,
“the term epiphany may be deduced etymologically. The basic meaning in Greek of
epifaneia is appearance or manifestation, and the word is related to a verb meaning to
display or show forth”[Walzl 1965: 436]4.Walzl also notes that the religious

3
Joyce 1944: Stephen Hero. New York. New Directions Press, 1944.
4
Walzl 1965: The Liturgy of the Epiphany Season and the Epiphanies of Joyce.
PMLA, 80, pp. 436-450, 1965.

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219

connotation of an epiphany is inseparable from the concept of epiphany, as a larger or

greater force seems to drive the revelation given in the epiphany; it is “a visible
manifestation of a hidden divinity either in a form of a personal appearance, or by
some deed of power by which its presence is made known” [Walzl 1965: 436] 5. In
religious terms, epiphany may also refer specifically to the feast of the Epiphany on
the 6th of January in the Catholic Church. This Feast also directly embodies what the
idea of epiphany is, albeit indirectly in terms of how it functions in the literary sense,
as it honors the manifestation of Jesus Christ’s ascendance to Earth, and the
realization that he is the Messiah, i.e. a revelation from a greater source.
Epiphany in a more aesthetic sense may be defined as a revelation brought on through
an image or event that leads to greater understanding. To quote Morris Beja on the
works of Joyce, “epiphanies are moments in which an external divine force reveals
the truth” and “an epiphany is a sudden spiritual ‘manifestation’ – a showing forth, an
illumination, a revelation” [Beja 1971: 15]6. Walzl notes that this use of epiphany as
manifestation is necessary as it is the key to transforming the everyday life of the
character and plot into story and art: “In Joyce’s view, the writer transforms real
experience into art, having in the process godlike insights into the nature of things, as
a result of which his work of art later offers a like experience to the reader” [Walzl
196: 437]7. Beja also supports this assertion, stating that Joyce is most famous for
“converting the bread of everyday life into art of permanent value […] to record what
he liked to call epiphanies.” [Beja 1971: 71]8.
It should be noted that what is different about Joyce is not merely his use of epiphany
and certainly “the epiphany is not peculiar to Joyce alone. Virtually every writer
experiences a sense of revelation when he beholds a fragment of his ordinary world
across what Bullough has called a ‘psychic distance’ – disassociated from his
subjective and practical concerns” [Hendry 1946: 451] 9. What distinguishes the
works of Joyce in their use of epiphanies is that “he wanted his reader to understand
always, through suggestion rather than direct statement” [Budgen 1989: 21]10.In this

5
Ibid.
6
Beja 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.
7
Walzl 1965: The Liturgy of the Epiphany Season and the Epiphanies of Joyce.
PMLA, 80, pp. 436-450, 1965.
8
Beja 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.
9
Hendry 1946: Joyce’s Epiphanies. The Sewanee Review, 54, pp. 449-467, 1946.
10
Budgen 1989: James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses. Oxford University Press,
1989.

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lies the true power of his use of epiphanies: “[it] is in its ability to dramatize meaning
and do away with the necessity for explanation. The epiphany per se is not a symbol
or image, though it may arise from one” [Beja 1971: 75]11.

2. EPIPHANIES IN THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF STEPHAN

D E D A L U S . – As “epiphany” is now clearly defined in its importance and Joyce’s
usage, it is best to examine it in practice. In its analysis of Joyce, this paper shall
review three major epiphanies and their unique literary usage in A Portrait. Each
epiphany is important in the wider scope of the novel, as it furthers the progress of
Stephan Dedalus as a literary character.

2 . 1 . “ T H A T W A S U N F A I R A N D C R U E L ! ” – The first major epiphany to take

place is when Stephen is beaten for having broken his glasses. This event occurs
when he, as a young student, is excused from school work by (in contrast to the other
teachers) the kindly Father Arnall, as he accidentally broke his glasses when an older
boy happened to push him down onto the bike path. Shortly after this, the school’s
sadist, Father Dolan, comes to visit Stephen’s Latin class. Another student named
Fleming has not done his Latin theme well and Father Arnall has already ordered him
to kneel in the row next to his desk. Coming in and seeing him there, Father Dolan
then beats his hands with a “pendybat” (yelling and accusing him of being, “A born
idler! I can see it in the corner of his eye” [Joyce 1996: 55]). Afterwards, he confronts
Stephen who is not writing at all due to the fact that he cannot see well without his
glasses. He explains the fact innocently to Father Dolan, and his story is further
confirmed by Farther Arnall. This is not enough for Dolan who proceeds to make him
extend his hands and beats them with the pandybat, just as he has done to Fleming,
accusing him of the same offence. “I see schemer in your face. […] Lazy idle little
loafer! cried the prefect of studies. Broke my glasses! An old schoolboy trick!”
[Joyce 1966: 55-56]12. As Stephen is struck by the pandybet, “at the sound and the
pain scalding tears were driven into his eyes.” Stephen feels “a prayer to be let off”
but does not submit, “though the tears scalded his eyes” [Joyce 1996: 57] 13. Stephen
is later consoled by his classmates, and even goes to the dean to complain as Father
Dolan said he would return the next day, and wishes to avoid any further unjust
beatings.

11
Beja 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.
12
Joyce 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group, 1996.
13
Ibid.

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As Marvin Magalaner has pointed out, “Stephen, the embryo artist and rebel, will not
‘apologize’ even when the word seeks to ‘pull out his eyes’ [Magalaner 1979]”14.
Stephen never forgets this incident and carries it with him for the rest of the novel as
– for the very first time – he comes to the realization that life is not always fair. This
epiphany is repeatedly underscored in a variety of ways. Firstly, upon completion of
the beating and Father Dolan’s leaving, it is noted how “Father Arnall had told them
both that they might return to their places without making any difference between
them.” [Joyce 1996: 59]15, which clearly upsets Stephen; he had not made any
mistake, but was still punished in the same manner as the boy who had. Stephen
seems surprised and deeply hurt that such injustice exists, repeating many times over
the next few pages “it was unjust and cruel and unfair” [Joyce 1996: 60]16. The idea
and theme of justice and injustice is even supported and foreshadowed slightly earlier
in the novel, before this event of epiphany takes place. Prior to that Latin class, he
overhears a group of boys in the schoolyard conversing about a group of other
students who got into trouble as they made a transgression and were caught (it is not
entirely clear what exactly happened, it is understood that it has something to do with
stealing money from the rector and drinking wine from casks in the cellar – or
“smugging” in the town square – but even this is not certain to be the case). Stephen
silently ponders the punishment of flogging and does not understand why someone
would make such a transgression or flog another person. This alludes to his naivety:
he has never been beaten and does not even know what “smugging” is. “Why were
they to suffer for what fellows in the higher line did? […] But still it was a strange
and a great sin even to touch it. He thought of it with deep awe” [Joyce 1996: 52] 17.
From these passages, it can be seen that Stephen was afraid of punishment, but
thought that he deserved none as he did nothing wrong. The pandybeating he received
broke this illusion and became the starting point of an epiphany for him.
In some ways this epiphany can be called “retrospective”, as it often repeats itself in
Stephen’s life. For instance, when he is much older, his father meets his former Dean
in a pub and they both share a good laugh at Stephen’s actions (and expense) in
regard to the beating: “By the buy, said Mr. Dedalus at length, the rector was telling
me that story about you and Father Dolan. You’re an impudent thief, he said. – I told

14
Magalaner 1979: Joyce:The Man, the Work, the Reputation. Greenwood Publishing
Group, 1979.
15
Joyce 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group, 1996.
16
Ibid.
17
Joyce 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group, 1996.

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them all at dinner about it and Father Dolan and I and all of us we all had a hearty
laugh together over it. Ha! Ha! Ha!” [Joyce 1996: 81- 82]18. The epiphany’s
revelation does not come until he is in Bella Cohen’s brothel, when he realizes for the
first time that there is an aspect of the church that can be obsessive and unjust: “The
prefect of studies was a priest but that was cruel and unfair” [Joyce 1996: 59]19.
In short, Joyce utilizes this episode to force Stephen to relive his past, but at the same
time it somehow frees him from it. This is a prime example of how Joyce uses
epiphany as there is no one moment where the epiphany is revealed, rather it slowly
comes to the character over time, through much review.

2 . 2 . “ C O N F E S S ! M U S T , M U S T . C O N F E S S ! ” – A major theme in A Portrait of

the Artist as a Young Man is religious belief, or ironically enough, the lack of belief.
The moment when Stephen realizes he does not want to be a sinner anymore is the
second very important epiphany which the reader encounters in the novel. Further
connection with the theme of guilt is made through Stephen’s reactions to Father
Arnall’s sermons, and his sense of being called to “Confess! Confess!” He has come
to mortal sin, he feels, “by seeing or by thinking of seeing” 20 – and the fault thus lies
in his “eyes” which “see the thing, without having wished first to see.” 21
The changing point is the speech held by Father Arnall about Hell. At first, Stephen
Dedalus experiences sin: he ignores Christian values, “he wanted to sin with another
of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin” [Joyce
1996: 113]22 and sleeps with a prostitute: “with a sudden movement she bowed his
head and joined her lips to his and he read the meaning of her movements in her frank
uplifted eyes. It was too much for him. He closed his eyes, surrendering himself to
her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world but the dark pressure of her
softly parting lips” [Joyce 1996: 115]23. This can be called his lack of belief in the
general morals of humankind, and in romantic relationships. Stephen Dedalus, as well
as Joyce himself, was born in a religious Catholic family, and was sent to a religious
type of school as an adolescent. After his class is lectured on the finer points of Hell

18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
See: Joyce 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group,
1996. Pg . 159.
21
Ibid.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.

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by Father Arnall, Stephen is scared and panics at the visions of Hell presented by his
teacher: “—Now let us try for a moment to realize, as far as we can […] Hell is a
strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled
with fire and smoke. […] —The horror of this strait and dark prison is increased by
its awful stench. All the filth of the world, all the offal and scum of the world, we are
told, shall run there […] Imagine all this and you will have some idea of the horror of
the stench of hell” [Joyce 1996: 135-137]24.
Soon, his path will change, from that of a sinner (“No escape. He had to confess, to
speak out in words what he had done and thought, sin after sin” [Joyce 1996: 143] 25),
to that of a devout Catholic, blindly following religious doctrine (“In order to mortify
the sense of sight he made it his rule to walk in the street with downcast eyes,
glancing neither to right nor left and never behind him. His eyes shunned every
encounter with the eyes of woman” [Joyce 1996: 171]26), but “at least he had
understood: and human life lay around him, a plain of peace whereon antlike men
labored in brotherhood” [Joyce 1996: 143]27, he thinks to himself and feels a
resurgence of religious zeal. Also, this epiphany is interwoven with the one when a
priest speaks to Stephen about joining the Jesuits. Much later than this scene, in fact,
he seriously listens to the director’s proposal that he become a Jesuit priest. The offer
to enter the priesthood is presented in an interesting way as a subtle parody of the
traditional religious narrative of a spiritual journey towards salvation. The priest’s
words invoke devil’s temptation that Stephen must avoid. There is something corrupt
and materialistic about the power that Stephen is offered:
“To receive that call, Stephen, said the priest, is the greatest honor that Almighty God
can bestow upon a man. No king or emperor on this earth has the power of the priest
of God. No angel or archangel in heaven, no saint, not even the Blesses Virgin herself
has power of a priest of God; the power of the keys, the power to bind and to loose
from sin, the power of exorcism, the power to cast out from the creatures of God the
evil spirits that have power over them, the power, the authority, to make the great
God of Heaven to come down upon the altar and take the form of bread and wine.
What an awful power, Stephen” [Joyce 1996: 179-180]28.

24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.
28
Ibid.

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Aside from the repeated use of the word “power” there is an inappropriate gloating
with pride. All the same, he is still restless inside even though he is offered a place
among the Jesuit order (something that should bring him great joy considering the life
he has been leading lately), he only feels inexplicable restlessness. It is the abrupt
necessity for this decision that makes him realize “the frail hold which so many years
of order and obedience had of him when once a definite and irrevocable act of his
threatened to end for ever, in time and in eternity, his freedom” [Joyce 1996: 161-
162]29. He can see all his life ahead of him and he does not seem to be ready for such
a dull and complacent existence. He also reflects upon the freedom he will lose and
the permanency of the decision he is about to make. “He would never swing the
thurible […] as priest. He was destined to learn his own wisdom apart from others or
to learn the wisdom of others himself. Not to fall was too hard, too hard; […] falling,
falling, but not yet fallen, still unfallen, but about to fall” [Joyce 1996: 184-185]30.
This rejection of the Catholic priesthood quickly leads Stephen to lose his faith; at the
same time, it prepares him for the realization of his true calling – art, and for
becoming the “priest of eternal imagination” as he later calls himself. He has not yet
completely rejected his family nor Church and become a rebel; first he must find a
cause.

2.3. “TO LIVE, TO ERR, TO FALL, TO TRIUMPH, TO RECREATE LIFE

O U T O F L I F E ! ” – Soon after his interview with the director, Stephen, walking
along the shore, feels that the air is “timeless”, and all ages seem “as one to him”.
Suddenly, he realizes the significance of his name, the name of the fabulous artificer:
“a hawk-like man flying sunward above the sea, a prophecy of the end he had been
born to serve [...], a symbol of the artist forging anew in his workshop out of the
sluggish matter of the earth a new soaring impalpable imperishable being” [Joyce
1996: 192]31.
This comparison prepares Stephen for his vision of the wading girl, where the
imagery remains a sign of promise and of freedom. The most notable epiphany is
exactly this one, when Stephen, as he waits impatiently for the University entrance
examination results, is fascinated by the girl’s gracefulness and innocence. When he
sees a young girl wading at the beach, he is struck by a sudden realization that an
appreciation for beauty can be truly good. This moment is a classic example of

29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.

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Joyce’s belief that an epiphany can dramatically alter human spirit in a matter of just
a few seconds. As he sits peacefully, contemplating this girl’s looks, Stephen realizes
what a woman’s essence really is. He perceives her inner beauty as well as her outer
beauty, and finally, he understands the nature of love. Joyce compares the girl to a
“beautiful seabird” and her face is “mortally beautiful”. Her silhouette appears slim
and soft like a white-feathered dove. The portrait of the girl is close to that of an
angel. Joyce’s words flow easily and uninterruptedly making this passage seem more
like a poem than a piece of prose. Although Joyce does not use lines and verses like
he would in poetry, the description of each part of the body is constituted exactly like
a stanza, and the repetitions (e.g. “her bosom was as a bird’s soft and slight, slight
and soft as the breast of some dark plumaged dove” [Joyce 1996: 195] 32) are like a
leitmotif, meant to stress a particular characteristic. At the end of the description, the
author turns to a darker comparison “a wild angel […] of mortal youth and beauty, an
envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an ecstasy the gates of
all the ways of error and glory” [Joyce 1996: 196]33. Although he names the woman
an “angel”, she is a wild angel not of heaven but of nature, which ties together
Stephen’s struggle between the two worlds: religion and art. “He felt above him the
vast indifferent dome and the calm processes of the heavenly bodies; and the earth
beneath him, the earth that had borne him, had taken him to her breasts” [Joyce 1996:
196]34.
This is the most important epiphany as well as the structural climax of the novel, the
moment when Stephen becomes a conscious artist,when the rebel finds his cause.The
girl herself is strongly reminiscent of Beatrice; she is the symbol that frees him to
follow art and nothing else. The description of her flesh as “softhued as ivory” makes
her more godly than Eileen and Emma before her. Stephen’s reaction to the wading
girl is conveyed in such terms as “worship”, “Heavenly God”, “holy silence of his
ecstasy”, “a wild angel”. But despite all these phrases his emotion is far from
religious and is, in fact, like his joy – “profane”: “Heavenly God! cried Stephen’s
soul, in an outburst of profane joy” [Joyce 1996: 195]35.

3 . T H E I M P O R T A N C E O F E P I P H A N Y I N A P O R T R A I T . – Epiphany is
crucial to a holistic view of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and especially to

32
Ibid.
33
Ibid.
34
Ibid.
35
Ibid.

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that of the character of Stephen Dedalus. “Even if Joyce had never lived and Stephen
had never roamed the streets of Dublin, what they both called ‘epiphany’ would still
have been a profoundly important presence in the contemporary novel” [Beja 1971:
14]36. In the same light, the likes of Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf used this same
technique for the most personal elements in their narration. Whether as a recollection
of a memory from which the epiphany itself later burst, or as something that happens
at the very moment, its employment is fundamental to endorsing the character’s
identity. “Clearly, epiphany was important in Joyce’s view of his art, just as
epiphanies are clearly important in his books, which include many experiences which
he certainly felt – and often meant a reader to feel – involved sudden spiritual
manifestations. Sometimes these experiences seem purely fictional, with little or no
biographical basis. At times […] they are based on the incidents he had preserved as
‘epiphanies’ after they had actually occurred to him. Usually he combined these two
methods, changing and modifying until he produced something which, though it may
have arisen from the everyday world in which Joyce found himself, exists
permanently in the world he created” [Beja 1971: 81]37.
Epiphany has a moral quality because it links art to life, as has herein been illustrated.
For Stephen, confronting himself as an artist, in his joy of ‘art’ as his true craft, the
moment of truth has arrived: “Welcome, O Life! I go to encounter for the millionth
time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated
consistence of my race.” [Joyce 1996: 288]38. This is an allusion to the motif of
Daedalus, a great artificer, whom Stephen addresses in his diary at the end of the
novel. “Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead” [Joyce 1996:
288]39.
Herbert Gold has argued that “the experience of epiphany is characteristic of great
literature” [Gold 2002: 60]40; Beja makes a similar claim, stating that “the artist has
accomplished his full task only when an epiphany in art produces a revelation of
nature, when fiction illumines reality, when literature becomes experience.
Epiphanies do in fact provide for readers of modern fiction: the privileged moments,
the sudden spiritual manifestation, the moment of being, the blaze of light, the flash,

36
Beja 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.
37
Ibid.
38
Joyce 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group, 1996.
39
Ibid.
40
Gold 2002: The Age of Happy Problems. Transaction Publishers, 2002.

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the glare that only great art can generate” [Beja 1971: 232] 41. It is in these guiding
lights that Joyce chose to place his character and reveal his inner desire, through a
series of revelations, on the road to accepting himself.
The contradictions that Stephen’s character progresses through, or rather challenges,
in which he confronts himself and outside forces (especially those of a religious and
social nature) are outgrown in an even greater “epiphany” in Joyce’s Ulysses, and are
powerfully expressed in the conclusion of A Portrait. Yet, the quest for self-
knowledgeis deeply rooted in the whole of Joyce’s life and achievement, and is
naturally expressed in his works. It could be asserted that while Joyce himself left
Dublin in 1904, he did so only “to return” to the city continually in his work as a
system of self-reflection, dwelling on his past and expressing what he knew of
himself through the epiphany of his characters, to give them a unique voice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BEJA 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.
BUDGEN 1989: James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses. Oxford University Press,
1989.
COYLE 1997: James Joyce: Ulysses / A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (A
reader’s guide to essential criticism). New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
1997.
GOLD 2002: The Age of Happy Problems. Transaction Publishers, 2002.
HENDRY 1946: Joyce’s Epiphanies. The Sewanee Review, 54, pp. 449-467, 1946.
JOYCE 1944: Stephen Hero. New York: New Directions Press, 1944.
JOYCE 1996: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Penguin Group, 1996.
MAGALANER 1979: Joyce: The Man, the Work, the Reputation. Greenwood
Publishing Group, 1979.
WALZL 1965: The Liturgy of the Epiphany Season and the Epiphanies of Joyce.
PMLA,80, pp. 436-450, 1965.

41
Beja 1971: Epiphany in the Modern Novel. University of Washington Press, 1971.

РЕЧИ Б Е О Г Р А Д , 2 0 1 3 , V , БР. 6
 I. KOVAČEVIĆ
228 MANIFESTATION OF EPIPHANIES IN A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

МАНИФЕСТАЦИЈЕ ЕПИФАНИЈА У РОМАНУ ПОРТРЕТ УМЕТНИКА

У МЛАДОСТИ

Р Е З И М Е . – Циљ овог рада је расветљавање филозофије и идентитета главног

јунака Стивена Дедалуса. За то нам је послужио Џојсов концепт епифаније и
њена карактеристична примена у роману Портрет уметника у младости. У
раду су детаљно образложена три по аутору најважнија “момента
(само)спознаје и откровења” која ће значајно утицати на трансформацију
Стивеновог лика, од наивног дечака до потпуног идеалисте и бунтовника
спремног да промени свет. Џојс епифанију уводи као једну од главних техника
којом ће се приближити лику и открити нам најтананије делове његове душе.
Неоспорно је да употреба епифаније, како у самом роману тако и у овом раду,
презентује моралну вредност, јер повезује уметност са животом.

Кључне речи: епифанија, Џејмс Џојс, развитак личности, аутобиографија,

уметност
———————————
Ирина Ковачевић
Алфа Универзитет, Београд
УДК: 821.111.09-31
ОРИГИНАЛНИ НАУЧНИ РАД


i_nina_k@yahoo.com

РЕЧИ Б Е О Г Р А Д , 2 0 1 3 , V , БР. 6

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