The aim of this essay is to analyze the myth of London as revisited in mid- nineteenth century American literature, focusing on the ambiguous figure found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wakefield (1835) and the anonymous “man of the crowd” in Edgar Allan Poe’s eponymous tale (1840). Both characters represent the dilemmas of displacement, movement and alienation raised by the dissolution of the traditional paradigms of identity and, at the same time, the emergence of new social patterns. Poe’s “perfect stranger” does not belong anywhere; he is forced to move from one event to another, living in an eternal present with no connections to the past, while Hawthorne’s “outcast of the universe” acts like a post- modern tourist, choosing a self- imposed exile from his own home that lasts for twenty years. Thus, in different ways, the labyrinthine streets of London become, for the American authors, an existential metaphor, or rather the imaginary space where the modern subject experiences the estrangement of the familiar and the disturbing presence of Otherness.

The outcasts of the universe: longing and belonging in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s and Edgar Allan Poe’s London tales, 2019.

The outcasts of the universe: longing and belonging in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s and Edgar Allan Poe’s London tales

Chiurato, Andrea
2019-01-01

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to analyze the myth of London as revisited in mid- nineteenth century American literature, focusing on the ambiguous figure found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wakefield (1835) and the anonymous “man of the crowd” in Edgar Allan Poe’s eponymous tale (1840). Both characters represent the dilemmas of displacement, movement and alienation raised by the dissolution of the traditional paradigms of identity and, at the same time, the emergence of new social patterns. Poe’s “perfect stranger” does not belong anywhere; he is forced to move from one event to another, living in an eternal present with no connections to the past, while Hawthorne’s “outcast of the universe” acts like a post- modern tourist, choosing a self- imposed exile from his own home that lasts for twenty years. Thus, in different ways, the labyrinthine streets of London become, for the American authors, an existential metaphor, or rather the imaginary space where the modern subject experiences the estrangement of the familiar and the disturbing presence of Otherness.
Inglese
2019
Le Juez, Brigitte; Richardson, Bill
Spaces of longing and belonging: territoriality, ideology and creative identity in literature and film
30
233
251
19
9789004402928
9789004402935
Netherlands
Leiden, Boston
Brill
esperti anonimi
internazionale
A stampa
Settore L-FIL-LET/14 - Critica Letteraria e Letterature Comparate
1
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10808/30643
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