Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The best books like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are Ulysses, Dubliners, and Steppenwolf. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is about artistic vocation, religion and rebellion, identity formation. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Ulysses
01
James Joyce · Literary fiction
Ulysses takes place on a single day — June 16, 1904 — in Dublin, following three characters: Leopold Bloom, an advertising canvasser; his wife Molly; and Stephen Dedalus, the young writer from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Dubliners
02
James Joyce · Short stories
Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories set in Dublin in the early twentieth century, published in 1914 after nearly a decade of rejections and publisher disputes over its frank treatment of Irish life.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Steppenwolf
03
Hermann Hesse · Philosophy
Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's most psychologically intense and formally inventive novel, published in 1927 at a time of personal crisis.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Siddhartha
04
Hermann Hesse · Religion & Spirituality
Siddhartha is Hermann Hesse's 1922 novel of spiritual seeking, written at a time when Hesse was deeply studying Buddhist and Hindu texts.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Normal People
05
Sally Rooney · Literary fiction
Normal People follows Connell and Marianne from their small-town Irish secondary school through their years at Trinity College Dublin.
Both dig into identity formation.
Read the summary → - Atlas of the Heart
06
Brené Brown · Psychology
Atlas of the Heart is Brené Brown's attempt to map eighty-seven distinct human emotions and experiences — not as a clinical taxonomy but as a practical vocabulary for people who want to communicate more precisely about what they feel.
Both dig into language.
Read the summary → - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
07
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou · Memoir
Maya Angelou's first volume of autobiography covers her childhood and adolescence in Stamps, Arkansas and San Francisco during the 1930s and 1940s, ending with the birth of her son at age sixteen.
Both dig into language.
Read the summary → - Letters to a Young Poet
08
Rainer Maria Rilke · Philosophy
Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters Rilke wrote between 1903 and 1908 to Franz Xaver Kappus, a young military cadet and aspiring poet who had sent Rilke samples of his verse and asked for criticism.
Both dig into artistic vocation.
Read the summary → - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
09
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jean-Dominique Bauby · Memoir
Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle when he suffered a massive stroke in December 1995 that left him with complete paralysis of his body except for his left eyelid.
Both dig into language.
Read the summary → - The Language Instinct
10
Steven Pinker · Science
The Language Instinct is Steven Pinker's argument that language is not a cultural invention but a biological instinct — a specialized module in the human brain that evolved by natural selection, much as the eye evolved to see or the hand evolved to grasp.
Both dig into language.
Read the summary → - A Farewell to Arms
11
Ernest Hemingway · Literary fiction
A Farewell to Arms is set during the First World War in northern Italy and follows Frederic Henry, an American serving as a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, who falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Fine Balance
12
Rohinton Mistry · Literary fiction
A Fine Balance is set in an unnamed Indian city during Indira Gandhi's Emergency of 1975–1977, a period of suspended democracy, forced sterilization, and slum clearances that is barely taught in the West and barely taught in India.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: quick answers
What are the best books like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
The best books like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce are Ulysses by James Joyce, Dubliners by James Joyce, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Normal People by Sally Rooney, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, such as artistic vocation, religion and rebellion, identity formation.
What should I read after A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
A natural next read after A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Ulysses by James Joyce. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are Dubliners by James Joyce, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.
What books are similar to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce?
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man centers on artistic vocation, religion and rebellion, identity formation. Books with a similar feel include Ulysses by James Joyce, Dubliners by James Joyce, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
