How does Stephen Dedalus connect A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses?

Stephen Dedalus serves as a vital link between A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses by acting as the evolving, autobiographical artist-hero through whom James Joyce explores his aesthetic and philosophical development.12

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen is the protagonist of a bildungsroman that traces his intellectual and emotional maturation. He struggles against the restrictive religious and social conventions of Ireland, ultimately deciding to leave Dublin to pursue his artistic calling.132

In Ulysses, Stephen reappears as a central character, now engaged in a search for meaning in his past and present life. He is reimagined within the novel’s structural framework—based on Homer’s Odyssey—as the modern counterpart to Telemachus, the son seeking his father, who is represented by Leopold Bloom. Through this continuity, Joyce demonstrates his conviction that the past implies a fluid succession of presents, allowing Stephen to remain a focal point for the author’s exploration of myth, history, and the human experience.124