Included in a new bilingual critical edition of Hawthorne's story and of its literary source (William King's "Anecdotes"), the essay explores the protagonist's inexplicable "folly" that, in Hawthorne's view, may be said to strike at the ethical foundations and the established order of society. This folly characterizes the disconnection of the modern hero. Wakefield is a deviant individual who, without the shadow of a reason, abandons his home and his spouse, and disowns common forms of sharing and reciprocity for twenty years. After such a long period of solitude, he resumes his place, finally, though ambiguously, re-subjecting himself to the accepted systems of the family, the community and the organized world at large.
Folly and Disjunction in Hawthorne's "Wakefield"
NORI, Giuseppe
2013-01-01
Abstract
Included in a new bilingual critical edition of Hawthorne's story and of its literary source (William King's "Anecdotes"), the essay explores the protagonist's inexplicable "folly" that, in Hawthorne's view, may be said to strike at the ethical foundations and the established order of society. This folly characterizes the disconnection of the modern hero. Wakefield is a deviant individual who, without the shadow of a reason, abandons his home and his spouse, and disowns common forms of sharing and reciprocity for twenty years. After such a long period of solitude, he resumes his place, finally, though ambiguously, re-subjecting himself to the accepted systems of the family, the community and the organized world at large.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
