The Early Joyce and the Writing of ‘Exiles’

It is somewhat ironic to note that, for the most part, Joycean criticism to date has taken for granted the very idea underlying all of Joyce’s works, namely, the concept of youth. Up to Ulysses, Joyce has treated this theme constantly yet relatively little has been written on the fact that at one point of his life Joyce was indeed a young man. Starting from the premise that Joyce is Stephen Dedalus, the thesis is advanced that the early Joyce reaches maturity with the writing of Exiles. Seeing himself in this reflection, Joyce is ready to undertake a new direction in his fiction – no longer defined by the image of the “young man”.