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"Unfallen but About to Fall": The Influence of Byron's Cain on Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- James Joyce Quarterly
- The University of Tulsa
- Volume 52, Number 3-4, Spring-Summer 2015
- pp. 557-573
- 10.1353/jjq.2015.0029
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
The importance of Byron's verse drama Cain on Joyce's work has been largely limited to considerations of Finnegans Wake. Joyce had a well-annotated copy of the text with him in Trieste when he wrote his first novel, however, and his fascination with Byron was a lifelong affair that extended from youthful infatuation to a more mature engagement with Byron's critiques of culture, society, and individual selfishness. This essay argues that Cain exerts a deep influence on A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and that Joyce incorporates numerous parallels between Cain and Stephen. This symmetry between the two texts casts A Portrait's ending in a deeply ironic light and produces the disillusioned Stephen whom readers meet in Ulysses; furthermore, it indicates Joyce's acknowledgment that isolation, resentment, and estrangement are not the conditions for producing great art.