Robert Cooper

Hellish motorway experience

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

Listening to Jim Norton reading The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on this outstanding recording is a first-class way of either revisiting James Joyce’s autobiographical novel or of dipping your toe in the water for the first time. I am a toe-dipper and whilst there were moments when Joyce’s ‘stream of consciousness’ technique threatened to drag me out to sea, I found that a few jabs at the ‘Play Again’ button kept me both buoyant and enlightened with regard to the author’s alter ego, Stephen Dedalus.

A memorable early scene sees young Dedalus home from boarding-school for Christmas. He is allowed to join the grown-ups for the first time for Christmas dinner, which provides a launching pad for some vocal acrobatics from our reader. There’s plenty of turkey and stuffing, but the conversation is anything but seasonal when the recent death of Charles Stewart Parnell is discussed. You really sense the vitriol in a heated exchange between Simon Dedalus (Stephen’s father), his friend John Casey and Dante (Mrs Riordan), the piously Catholic governess of the Dedalus children. Jim Norton excels, and it’s baffling how many voices, male and female, can be produced by this highly skilled pair of vocal chords. It comes as no surprise to learn that Norton won awards for his performances — and performances they really are — in Dubliners and Ulysses (also available from Naxos).

The beauty of listening on CD is the simplicity of finding a desired or memorable passage; each chapter is divided into about 20 tracks lasting roughly five minutes. For example if your constitution is suitably robust try CD 4 — Track 1: ‘Hell has enlarged its soul’ — where Stephen Dedalus, after a sermon at a school retreat, reflects on the degraded state of his soul, having spent part of a school prize on a prostitute.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in