The evolution of Stephen Dedalus’ worldview in James Joyce's “A portrait of the artist as a young man”

The article presents a view on the evolution of the protagonist’s individuality in the first novel of the famous Irish writer interwoven with the creation of a unique personal world. The analysis conducted on the levels of narration, plot and composition, and ideas reveals the essential features of the artistic world. The main focus is on the specific structures and boundaries the central character destroys and his attempt to design an alternative Creation. As the hero growing up, the hostile environment of alien schools and cities is taking over the ideal macrocosm that appeared in his infantile consciousness, in the end swallowing his very home. Fighting the uncongenial world, the protagonist is trying vainly to expand the boundaries of his space and recapture the lost territory. He implements Art as a means of assembling, he strives to create a new beautiful Universe out of the surrounding hideous chaos, thus, foredoomed to wander lonely in the boundless vast of his imagination.