A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I know I have read this fairly recently, but I couldn't find any record. I checked out the shortest audiobook I could find. I just noticed it was abridged. That does explain why it was so short. (Otherwise, the narrator must be reading really fast.)

In the story, Stephen Dedalus grows up. We see his interactions with his family and his peers. He struggles with his faith and education. Some parts all come together as a classmate encourages him to remain a faithful Catholic for his mother. In his journey, Stephen goes to a carnal extreme, and then back to a religious awakening, before finally going to self imposed exile to pursue his artistic desires.

It feels to be a collection of tightly related autobiographical short stories. I wonder how much Joyce used the fictional construct to explore how he "would have acted" rather than what he actually did. The work is very accessible (as opposed to some of Joyce's other works.)