6533b839fe1ef96bd12a613e

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Some notes on the character of the american hero, of the american novel, and of the novel in general

subject

description

Using the concept 'surplus-self' as its leitmotiv, the article analyses first the transition from the Puritan model of the American imagination to a Whitmanesque 19th century model of imagination, rendered after the concept of empathy and mysticism. By referring (among others) to the narrative and heroic models of Kafka and Thomas Pynchon, the article then explores the future possibilities of the novel in general.