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City University of New York - City College

Creator and Creation: Artistic Development in Herman Melville’s Pierre; or, the Ambiguities and James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>This study focuses on the primary protagonists of Herman Melville’s <em>Pierre; or, the Ambiguities</em> (1852) and James Joyce’s <em>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</em> (1916), Pierre Glendinning and Stephen Dedalus, as well as Isabel Banford, a supporting character in Melville’s novel, to illustrate how the tensions of contemporary society have a direct influence on the artist-hero’s representations and perspectives on self-realization. This thesis will draw on the major concepts of the artist and artist fiction as put forth in Otto Rank’s <em>Art and Artist</em> (1916), Herbert Marcuse’s “Der Deutsche Künstlerroman” (“The German Artist Novel”, 1922), and Maurice Beebe’s <em>Ivory Towers and Sacred Founts</em> (1964). The the specificities of the artistic nature development are analyzed according to each character and the importance of environment and experience for the artistic realization and the essential relations between artistic creation and the growth of personality are addressed.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year dc:date.available
2018

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • De La Cruz, Magdalena M
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Lyn Di Iorio
  • Carla Cappetti

Subjects

dc:subject × 10

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/716
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-1742

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
City University of New York - City College
Base URL
academicworks.cuny.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

De La Cruz, Magdalena M. Creator and Creation: Artistic Development in Herman Melville’s Pierre; or, the Ambiguities and James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Thesis thesis, 2018. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/716