Stephen Dedalus and the bildungsroman: An existentialist perspective on identity formation

The aim of this study is to disclose Stephen Dedalus's remarkable fictional presence with regard to the ways in which his identity is shaped by the philosophy of Existen-tialism and as patternized by the Bildungsroman literary tradition. Joyce's protagonist in his search for an identity is placed in a process which is essentially unveiling cer-tain parametres of existentialism conveying individual experience. Stephen Dedalus incorporates the characteristics of an existentialist hero who portrays his freedom to choose and responsibility to determine his own path. In the present study, we also attempt to reveal the transformations of the genre of the Bildungsroman as estab-lished by the Victorian realists but now, at the beginning of the twentieth century, coming under the influence of the newly emerging cultural and artistic context and being affected by the doctrine and literary practice of modernism. Joyce and other modernists preserve nevertheless the essence of the bildung experience encompassing character self-formation and self-actualization following various formative experienc-es, particularly the epiphanic moments prompting change and choice, and envisaging personal fulfillment. In this respect, we argue that Existentialism meets the poetics of Bildungsroman in Joyce's literray work to reveal the process of formation of the character of Stephen Daedalus as influenced as well as expressing the principles of this philosophy in his struggle to find his identity. Keywords: Stephen Dedalus, James Joyce, Existentialism, Bildungsroman, Identity formation