Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, began life as Stephen Hero, which Joyce started writing in 1904. It depicts the growth and development of the poet Stephen Dedalus, from his earliest childhood memories to his attempt to leave his home and family. The novel describes Stephen’s struggles with his Catholic religion, with a family impoverished by his father’s drinking, and with the politics and history of Ireland. Thanks to the efforts of American poet Ezra Pound, A Portrait was first published in serial form in the Egoist magazine in London from 2 February 1914. The editor of the Egoist, Harriet Weaver, became Joyce’s patron and sponsor, subsidising him and his family for more than twenty years. After Joyce’s death, she acted as his literary executor, and donated her valuable collections of Joyce books and manuscripts to the British Library and the National Library of Ireland.

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