Joyce

From James Joyce's "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man:"

"Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."

I loved this passage as an undergraduate and I love it still today. What a wonderful way to end a powerful story. Of course, the passage was setting it all up for what later became "Ulysses." Joyce toys with the idea of definition partly to evoke a yearning on the part of the reader. I always felt like I was being addressed directly, reminding me to seek out some part of my heritage which otherwise I wouldn't think of.