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| Stephen Dedalus | |
|---|---|
 Public art of Stephen Dedalus, Dublin | |
| First appearance | A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
| Last appearance | Ulysses |
| Created by | James Joyce |
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | Kinch |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Student (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) Part-time teacher (Ulysses) |
| Family | Simon Dedalus (father) Mary (May) Dedalus (mother)[1] |
| Nationality | Irish |
Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce's literary alter ego, appearing as the protagonist and antihero[2] of his first, semi-autobiographic novel of artistic existence, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), and as a major character in his 1922 novel Ulysses. Stephen mirrors many facets of Joyce's own life and personality. Joyce was a talented singer, for example, and in Ulysses Leopold Bloom notes the excellence of Stephen's tenor voice after hearing him sing Johannes Jeep's song "Von der Sirenen Listigkeit".
In Stephen Hero, an early version of A Portrait, Stephen's surname is spelled "Daedalus," a more obvious allusion to the mythological figure Daedalus, a brilliant artificer who constructed a pair of wings for himself and his son Icarus as a means of escaping the island of Crete, where they had been imprisoned by King Minos. Buck Mulligan makes reference to Stephen's mythic namesake in Ulysses, telling him, "Your absurd name, an ancient Greek!" His surname also suggests his desire to "fly" above the constraints of religion, nationality, and politics in his development as an artist. Daedalus had been contracted by King Minos to build the Labyrinth in which he would imprison his wife's son the Minotaur.[3] Stephen's surname may also reflect the labyrinthine quality of his developmental journey in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen's first name recalls the first Christian martyr. The theme of martyrdom runs throughout the novel.
- ^ Hunt, John. "Deadalus, Mary (May, née Goulding)." The Joyce Project. Retrieved 27 January 2021. http://m.joyceproject.com/info/people.html
- ^ Joyce, James, Abbreviated profile from World Authors 1900–1950. Accessed October 16, 2008. Archived May 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, suggests that Daedalus constructed the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.