December 29, 2016 marks the centenary of James Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' which was first published in 1916.
Joyce's coming-of-age, semi-autobiographical novel -- often ranked among the great novels of the 20th century -- centres on Stephen Dedalus, a young artist who rebels against convention in turn-of-the-century Ireland.
In Joyce's home country of Ireland, this week marks the end of a year of events celebrating the centenary, although there is more to come in early 2017.
In January, the James Joyce Centre in Dublin will host an exhibition of prints by artist Frank Kiely that puts a contemporary spin on Joyce's novel. Kiely reimagines scenes from the novel in a modern setting, examining key themes from the book such as ideas of "childhood and education, art and perception, religion and nationalism," according to the James Joyce Centre.
The exhibition will open on January 11, 2017 and run through May 28, 2017.
Offering more modern takes on Joyce's tale is the independent New Dublin Press, which launched a series of features in 2016 called "Modern Portraits" that sheds new light on the original "Portrait."
Marty Gilroy, an editor at New Dublin Press who also works at the James Joyce Centre, discusses Joyce's artistic rebellion in the context of the Irish rebellion of 1916.
Gerald Dawes, author of the 2014 collection of poems "Mickey Finn's Air" and the recent book "Of War and War's Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing," shares an essay he wrote in the 1980s to mark Joyce's centenary.
And finally, in The Guardian, Ireland's ambassador in London, Daniel Mulhall, looks at Joyce's work in the context of Brexit and current issues of Irish national identity.
