Well, I in chap 1. So far I like, I like! Anyone else reading? Maybe we can set an early August date for a live posting, where we can respond to one another in real time.

I'm having a read of this. Loving the experiential feel of joyce's language. Like scattered sense memories of childhood. Enjoyed 'the dead' but really loving this so far...on UK time so might have respond when i can.

Hi, I've just joined.Read chapter one.Very good and easy to read.Felt strange, the wintery descriptions and Christmas scene, in the middle of a rare heatwave here in Ireland right now.Not many posts on this.Pity.The spectre of clerical harshness to children looms large here.Joyce's originality of style and language present even in this early work. Enjoyable, and quietly funny given the harsh context.Good to see ,two others enjoying this book.

I'm going to start reading soon. Saffron's idea to have a live discussion is brilliant. Maybe a bit towards the end of July?

My goodness the christmas dinner scene is powerful. As often happens before a row it starts with an almost playful teasing. It becomes a storm, a runaway train of desperate genuinely painful conflict. I felt like stephen just watching with a terrible fascination as the darkness descends on them all. Powerful.

I agree with Mr C. about the Christmas dinner scene. Much of the political and moral argument seems to me to be beyond Stephen's grasp.The furore over Charles Stewart Parnell's affair with Kitty O' Shea ,which incurred the wrath of the Catholic church at the time.What age do you think Stephen is at this time? I find it hard to guess myself.Quite a difficult task Joyce undertakes here, writing in the third person author's voice about Stephen while trying to convey his childlike perception and description of things. Well done, considering.......For anyone interested in the bone of contention,( Parnell)Simon Schama covers this very well and poignantly in his "History of Britain".

I am very much enjoying the first chapter. I love the narration, how it jumps around a bit and is given in snips and rambling bits just the way a child does describe things and it also captures how we remember things - all in a jumble. But I am getting away from my intention of responding to your post. I wanted to welcome you to BT and to our discussion of Portrait. I am personally glad, because I am hoping you can enlighten me to all that I am missing not being Irish. Things such as who the heck is Katie O'Shea (I did find out when I looked up Parnell) and what is a Pandybat.

Me too! I think this attests to the strength of Joyce's prose. He is able to put the reader right in it, sitting right next to Stephen at the table.

If you guys want to talk live why not use the BookTalk.org chat room? chat/index.php

Hi Saffron, I'm just replying now due to the transatlantic time difference.I had not come across the word "pandybat" myself, until now.I'm surmising from the story it's some kind of schoolboy slang from the time or maybe that college.He talks about getting pandied and a pandying ,which translates to smacked ,no doubt.As you say ,much of the charm of the story, is the way Stephen's thoughts flit like a butterfly ,here and there to related things. Related at least ,in his mind.I'm still not sure what his age is in the story. Perhaps around 12. Hardly the age of a "Young man" of the title.The whole Parnell/Kitty O'Shea debacle was explosive and divisive in the extreme, as exemplified at the Christmas dinner. An unpleasant Christmas cracker!Many former supporters like Dante, turned against Parnell encouraged by public denouncements from the Catholic clergy.It largely wrecked his political career and in the story you hear his supporters say "They killed him". An interesting character, Parnell.He came close to acheiving home rule for Ireland through Gladstone's attempts to persuade the British parliament to vote for it. Defeated.I don't want to weary readers with the whole historic saga.Like a lot of Irish history ,it's stormy and violent.Good to hear your thoughts on the book.I'm enjoying it.

Is anyone interested in being the discussion leader on this? DWill did a bang-up job leading us through Dubliners. Everyone familiar with Peter Pan? Maybe if we all chap our hands and say we believe, DWill will show up and agree to lead this discussion. I believe, I believe...

Why not?There's not much happening here at the moment.I snuck over to the Dawkins book and posted there with a silly one.Quite a bit of verbal pandying there when the rational lock horns!Back to this book.Hopefully you can get a discussion leader,Saffron.

Just finished first chapter. Language has taken a journey with stephen until its quite conventional although still walking the line between 1st and 3rd person narative. It gives a feeling of being inside stephen's head aswell as watching the action. I like the bit where he's filing out of a room and deciding whether to demand justice from the rector. His mind presents an unassailably convincing argument first one way then the other, i recognise that pendulum. Iit also reminds me of tge adolescents grappling with truth. He asks who is right when dante and co argue so powerfully for their opinion, when teased by the other boys wonders what would be the correct response. It is like a young teen unpicking the concept of certainty or singular truth and finding reality to be more complex. I wonder if this is how the certainties of his cultural upbringing will start to unravell.

I found this site: http://www.enotes.com/portrait-of-the-a ... g-man-text
which underlines unusual words and phrases and explains their meanings. Pretty useful!

I am enjoying this novel. The writing style is whimsical and I also enjoy Joyce's use of dialogue.