A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

By: James Joyce

Narrated by: Jim Norton

This fictionalized portrait of Joyce's youth is one of the most vivid accounts of the growth from childhood to adulthood. Dublin at the turn of the century provides the backdrop as Stephen Dedalus moves from town and society, towards the irrevocable decision to leave. It was the decision made by Joyce himself which resulted in the mature novels of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

Critic reviews

"Naxos has cast a single voice, Jim Norton, who delivers the entire narrative in a single tone of gentle, god-like detachment. In dialogue passages, the characters roar to life in all their stormy Celtic vigor. Thus, Norton takes us inside the soul of the sensitive protagonist while amplifying the color and beauty of Joyce’s writing." (AudioFile)

Phenomenal audiobook!

One of the greatest novels of all time, read expertly by Jim Norton. Norton appropriately and seemingly effortlessly changes tone between quoted passages and narrative. He has an experienced command of Irish accents.

Excellent audio book

Not only is this a great and intensly memorable book, it is also wonderfully narrated with strong and distinct characterization. The narrator really brings the characters alive in this movingly personal portrait of the artist as a young man. Absorbing and strongly recommended!

Jim Norton is the best for Joyce

Don't bother with the John Lee version - Joyce is best handled by Jim Norton. Excellent and accessible. In terms of the book itself - I view it as a prerequisite to Ulysses, so a must if you want to get into understanding Joyce and his perspective on Ireland, etc.

Superlative performance of a mixed text

Performance unequivocally superb, as Norton’s invariably are. The book, however, for all that it is of the canon, and I realize it is a sin against received opinion to question Joyce’s brilliance, it’s not his brilliance per se I’m questioning. When he’s good, he’s astonishing. But the book as a whole has extraordinary writing, with a pacing that is uneven - forgiven by the orthodoxy, but not sure the Emperor is wearing a full suit of clothes, for all that parts are dazzling.

The Soul Struggling to Fly Free

I'd only ever read Joyce's short story "Araby," having been intimidated by the difficult reputation of his work (especially Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake), so I was unprepared for how wonderful A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is--and how accessible.

It must partly be due to Jim Norton's marvelous reading, so sensitive to and enhancing of the novel's poetic rhythms and sounds, beautiful images, savory characters, and mix of comedy and tragedy. Norton, reading the base narration in an appealing and neutral English accent (to my American ear) and the dialogue in an impressively and appropriately varied range of Irish accents and personalities, helps to bring alive the cultural, personal, dramatic, and thematic meanings of every word in the novel. Many scenes have been imprinted on my mind: Stephen unfairly having his hands flogged in class and then screwing up his courage to visit the Rector about it; Stephen listening to a priest giving intense sermons on the physical and mental horrors of hell (Norton-priest had atheist me shaking my head and chuckling at the sadistic-masochistic Catholic imagination one moment and tremblingly thinking that I'd better go to confession the next); Stephen raptly watching a girl wading with her dress hiked up; Stephen talking with his friend Cranly about mothers and Catholicism. . . And many more.

After finishing the audiobook, I didn't want it to end, so started listening to it again' I also visited a website with the text of the novel and read parts of that, realizing that Jim Norton had me understanding it just as well if not better than I would have had I read it myself.

This audiobook version of Joyce's novel is filled with beauty, humor, sadness, love, lust, guilt, transcendence, and life. Next up: Dubliners and Ulysses read by Jim Norton!

Much more approachable than Ulysses

A Portrait is a great start for anyone who wants to begin to wade into the ocean of meaning that emerged from the mind and pen of James Joyce. The story is approachable barring a few Celticisms and the performance is spectacular. Jim Norton is one of the best narrators of any audiobook you can find and this work, and the Naxos edition of Ulysses after it, are a sublime pairing of artistry and performance. Begin your journey here with Stephen. After you finish, check out a Teaching Company lecture series on Ulysses, then go with Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan through the streets of Dublin with a grown Stephen and Leopold & Molly Bloom. The works can be as transformative for the soul as scripture.

A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

I am reading this novel for a fourth year literature course, and the narrator brings it to life completely. He inhabits the various characters in a way that animates a very dense novel.

Excellent Narration

Not only is this book one of the greatest in the English language, or at least of the 20th Century, it's worth listening to for the narration alone. Fantastic storytelling.

Nobody reads Joyce like Jim Norton

As I've said before, the narrator makes or breaks an audible experience and Jim Norton is always the best, The vast array of voices he is able to convey brings the book alive and at times makes it more comprehensible, (in the case of Ulysses) than it may otherwise have been. I purchased portrait with a different narrator first, and teh inflection rove me away after the first five minutes. So I had to find the one read by this fellow alone. As always, fantastic. As for the the book itself, I am Joyce's biggest fan so what can I say? Loved it.

Good story and narration

This one was my first Joyce book. I must say it was not easy reading (listening, rather) probably because of the subject matter that I cannot personally relate to. The book spends a lot of time on the main character's struggle with faith/religion. I was not raised with any specific religion (this does not mean we had no moral standard), and my parents were open about what ideas and career I would chose. So, I had difficulty appreciating this aspect of the story. Nevertheless, the style of Joyce's writing was interesting, and the narrator was great.