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James Joyce´s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, as other works of his, is situated within the historical background of late 19th and early 20th century British-ruled Ireland. Under the British colonization, Stephen, like other Irish elites, is educated with the English value and concepts that disparage his own Irish culture and countrymen. By adopting the British value, he becomes incapable to identify with his Irish father, who has been effeminized by the British colonial power. Stephen is torn between his Irish origin and English mind. How can Stephen, as an Irish elite, possibly break through the confinement of the colonial context of Ireland in order to obtain an equal chance and value as his British oppressors? In order to break through the unjust social context, and to regain his deprived right to be who he wants to be, Stephen must denounce the righteousness of the social authority that has imposed an inferior identity upon him. The present book attempts at an understanding of Stephen´s inner struggle through the ideas of Derrida, Lacan, arguing Stephen´s unknown art as a mythologizing process of his own self image.

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Yi-Chuang Elizabeth Lin, M.A., Presently a reseach studentworking on a doctorate degree at Durham University(UK)

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