James Joyce was one of innovators of postmodernism. He is widely considered one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Born in Dublin, James Joyce (1882–1941) was a modernist and proponent of the stream-of-consciousness writing style and is widely considered one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. His works feature primarily Dublin figures such as in the short story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegan's Wake (1939). John Paul Riquelme is Professor of English at Boston University. He is the author of Teller and Tale in Joyce’s Fiction: Oscillating Perspectives and Harmony of Dissonances: T.S. Eliot, Romanticism, and Imagination. His edited works include Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Dracula, Joyce’s Dislocutions: Essays on Reading as Translation, and Gothic and Modernism: Essaying Dark Literary Modernity.

"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a work essential to a complete understanding of the Modernist movement. The Norton Critical Edition presents Joyce’s novel impeccably edited by Hans Walter Gabler and a series of background and critical essays astutely chosen by John Paul Riquelme. It will enhance any high school, college, or graduate course in which it is taught."