Stephen Dedalus
Stephen Dedalus was
James Joyce's literary
alter ego, as well as the central
protagonist and
antihero of two of his early works:
Stephen Hero, and Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel of artistic existence
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Dedalus also plays a significant role in Joyce's masterpiece
Ulysses, a novel based on the events of
Homer's Odyssey.
In
Stephen Hero, we find the surname written as "Daedalus," an immediate allusion to the Greek figure. Upon significantly revising the mammoth
Stephen Hero text into the much more compact
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce opted to shorten the name to "Dedalus" (as Buck Mulligan puts it in
Ulysses, "Your absurd name, an ancient Greek!") Stephen Dedalus also appears in
Ulysses as a parallel to Telemachus. See Richard Ellmann's revised biography, page 148.
As a character, Stephen seems to parallel many facets of Joyce's life and personality. As if to further corroborate this, Stephen's first name comes from
the first Christian martyr and, in a curious
juxtaposition, his surname references the mythological figure
Daedalus, a brilliant
artificer who constructed a pair of wax wings for himself and his son
Icarus as a means of escaping the island of Crete, where they were imprisoned by King Minos (who contracted Daedalus to build a
Labyrinth to contain the
Minotaur). Some critics suggest that Stephen's surname also reflects the labyrinthine quality of Stephen's developmental journey in
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
The choice to use the name Dedalus could also represent Stephen's wish to "fly" away from the constrants of religion, nationality, and politics which he feels hold him back artistically.
You speak to me of language, nationality, religion...I shall try to fly by those nets.
--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chapter 5
A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
--Ulysses, Episode 9
Welcome O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of expierience and to forge into the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. Old father, old artificer hold me now and forever in thy stead.
--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
