Self-Mythology in Hemingway and Fitzgerald

Literary analysis is often concerned with understanding the protagonist and how he shapes the world he inhabits. But when this central figure is presented by a first-person narrator, we must take into account how the protagonist's actions and views are influenced and wholly altered by the narrator's subjectivity. This narrator must be understood as a primary character who is concerned with vicariously crafting his own self mythology. This work aims to explore the narrative function in two seminal works by authors Ernest Hemingway and F.Scott Fitzgerald-- The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby--in order to uncover the deeper impulses which drive the storytelling process, namely the narrator's desire to craft a mythological identity for the protagonist (his double). Drawing upon psychologists, philosophers and mythologists such as Freud, Lacan, Nietzsche and Campbell, we will explore how the narrator uses this double to bargain for his own immortality. And in doing so, we will examine how the author offers his own defense against mortality. This work provides insight for both scholars of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and students of philosophy and literature.

Autorentext

Allison M. Herman, MA: Studied English Literature at San Francisco State University and received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley. Adjunct Professor of English at College of San Mateo & Merritt College in the Bay Area, California.