Educational Hypertexts

[Note: The system is not online because of copyright issues, this is only the introduction. Links will work only to the entry page of each hypertext, but not within the hypertexts, if you want more information please mail me]

An interesting feature of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the fact that it is the rewritten version of an earlier manuscript, Stephen Hero, the extant part also published and easy to find. This hypertext wants to let you see how Joyce's ellaboration and changes of style have a very deep meaning, and how it broke the narrative conventions of its time. Comparing selected passages from both texts (and also notes, epiphanies and other documents from Robert Scholes´s The Workshop of Dedalus) will facilitate discussion about why the book is written in such a way.

Your task is to have a look at the different scenes and then, using the "Add your opinion" link, try to explain what you think the changes mean and why Joyce chose one form over the other. Do they say the same thing? In what ways does the new form change the meaning? Then you can click on "View Discussion" to see what other people have said.

Since it is about the genesis of the novel, this hypertext also includes a small gallery of images so that you see how the novel looked in Joyce's manuscripts and in its first edition.