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Containing and Unleashing the Shock of the Modern in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” “A Natural History of the Dead,” and “A Way You’ll Never Be”
- Canadian Review of American Studies
- University of Toronto Press
- Volume 51, Number 2, Summer 2021
- pp. 92-107
- Article
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Abstract:
This article isolates three qualities of subjectivity occurring in three stories by Ernest Hemingway, from the existential self of “A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” to the historical consciousness of “A Natural History of the Dead,” to the radical subject of becoming of “A Way You’ll Never Be.” It tracks a spectrum of possible responses to the shock of the modern and argues that “A Way You’ll Never Be,” imagining a subjectivity akin to post-humanism, offers a unique vision of the self as something with no essential anchoring points.
Résumé:
Cet article examine trois aspects de la subjectivité se retrouvant dans trois nouvelles d’Ernest Hemingway : le soi existentiel dans « A Clean Well-Lighted Place », la conscience historique dans « A Natural History of the Dead » et le devenir dans « A Way You’ll Never Be ». Il examine une gamme de réponses possibles au choc de la modernité et soutient que la nouvelle « A Way You’ll Never Be », laquelle imagine une subjectivité semblable au post-humanisme, offre une vision unique du soi en tant qu’objet sans points d’ancrage essentiels.