“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce (post 7): Will the novel explain and justify its title?

I have just begun this novel, which Joyce worked on for more than ten years, and I wonder about its title.

Why does it say “the” artist rather than “an” artist? Is there only one kind of art and one kind of artist? Does the title claim that the portrait of Stephen Dedalus is in some important sense the portrait of all artists?

And why “A Portrait” rather than just “Portrait”? The former would seem to imply that different, but valid, portraits of Stephen Dedalus would have been possible. Indeed, the word “portrait” itself would seem to imply that different artists would have painted Dedalus differently.

Is “the” artist male, or only “an” artist?

I think that when most people read Joyce’s title and don’t see any problem, it is because they are translating it into The Story of Stephan Dedalus as a Young Man. But that is not Joyce’s title.

Perhaps the novel itself will explain the way its title is worded.

1. James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [1916]. Edited by Jeri Johnson. Oxford University Press, 2000/2008.