Stephen Dedalus was James Joyce's early pen name and the name of the main character of his early novel Stephen Hero. As a character in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, Stephen seems to represent many facets of Joyce’s own life and personality. Stephen's first name comes from the first Christian martyr, and in a curious juxtaposition, his surname is a reference to the mythological figure Daedalus, who constructed a pair of wax wings for himself and his son Icarus as a means of escape from Crete, where he was imprisoned by King Minos (the man who contracted him to build a Labyrinth to contain a Minotaur). Some critics suggest that Stephen's surname both likens him to Daedalus and reflects the labyrinthine quality of Stephen's developmental journey in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish name Séamas Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... Stephen Hero is part of the now mostly-lost first draft of James Joyces first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. ... A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is an autobiographical bildungsroman (novel of education) by James Joyce, first serialized in The Egoist between 1914-1915 and published in book form in 1916. ... Ulysses is a 1922 novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from 1918 to 1920, and published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach in 1922, Paris. ... Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, depicted by Carlo Crivelli in 1476 with three stones and the martyrs palm. ... Juxtaposition (noun) is an act or instance of placing two things close together or side by side. ... Daedalus and Icarus, by Charles Paul Landon, 1799 (Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Alençon) In Greek mythology, Daedalus (Latin, also Hellenized Latin Daedalos, Greek Daidalos and Etruscan Taitle) was a most skillful artificer and was even said to have first invented images. ... Icarus and Daedalus In Greek mythology, Icarus (Latin, Greek Íkaros, Etruscan Vicare, German Ikarus) was the son of Daedalus (Daídalos). ... A Roman mosaic showing Theseus and the Minotaur. ... Minotaur at the Greek pavilion at Expo 88 In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (Greek: Μινόταυρος) was a creature that was part man and part bull. ... Daedalus and Icarus, by Charles Paul Landon, 1799 (Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Alençon) In Greek mythology, Daedalus (Latin, also Hellenized Latin Daedalos, Greek Daidalos and Etruscan Taitle) was a most skillful artificer and was even said to have first invented images. ...

the choice to use the name Dedalus could also represent stephens wish to "fly" away from the constrants of religion, nationality, and politics which he feels hold him back artisticly.

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" you speak to me of language, nationality, religion...i shal try to fly by those nets."

Portrait of the artist as a young man, ch 4

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A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.

--Ulysses, Episode 9