Diplomarbeit Titel der Diplomarbeit The Catcher of Zero Existentialism in Contemporary U.S.-American Literature Verfasserin Sonja Dormann angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, im Jänner 2010 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Diplomstudium Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuer: Univ.-Doz. Mag a. Dr in . Astrid Fellner Hinweis: Diese Diplomarbeit hat nachgewiesen, dass die betreffende Kandidatin oder der betreffende Kandidat befähigt ist, wissenschaftliche Themen selbstständig sowie inhaltlich und methodisch vertretbar zu bearbeiten. Da die Korrekturen der/des Beurteilenden nicht eingetragen sind und das Gutachten nicht beiliegt, ist daher nicht erkenntlich, mit welcher Note diese Arbeit abgeschlossen wurde. Das Spektrum reicht von sehr gut bis genügend. Es wird gebeten, diesen Hinweis bei der Lektüre zu beachten. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................5 2. Existentialism: An Introduction to Existential Philosophies and Literatures............................................................................................................7 2.1 Terminology ....................................................................................................7 2.2 Existential Philosophy and Existentialism.................................................... 8 2.3 Existential Philosophy from the 17 th to the early 20 th Centuries ................ 9 2.3.1 Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) ....................................................................10 2.3.2 Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)....11 2.3.3 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900): Nihilism and Optimism ................ 12 2.3.4 The 20th century – Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) .......................... 14 2.4 French Existentialism...................................................................................16 2.4.1 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) ............................................................. 17 2.4.2 Albert Camus (1913–1960) ..................................................................22 2.5 Existentialism and the Meaning of Life ......................................................26 3. Existential Literature...........................................................................................28 3.1 Essential Works of Literary Existentialism ................................................. 30 3.2 Existential Literature: Language .................................................................33 3.3 Existential Literature: Themes and Motifs .................................................35 4. Existentialism in the U.S. ....................................................................................39 4.1 Existentialism in American Thought and Culture ...................................... 40 4.2 American Existential Literature.................................................................. 46 4.2.1 Moby Dick (1851).................................................................................. 48 4.2.2 The Two Faces of American Existential Literature........................... 50 4.2.3 20 th -Century Existential Literature in the U.S.................................... 51 4.3 The Remains of Existentialism in Contemporary American Culture.........61 5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger – Innocence, Experience, and Existential Concerns..........................................................................................65 5.1 Language and Style ..................................................................................... 68 5.2 Holden Caulfield – An Existential Hero?..................................................... 69 5.3 Existential Themes in The Catcher in the Rye ..............................................73 5.3.1 Myth .....................................................................................................73 5.3.2 Limit Situations....................................................................................75 5.3.3 Death....................................................................................................76 5.3.4 Integrity versus Phoniness: Good and Bad Faith ..............................81 5.3.5 Alienation............................................................................................ 84 5.4 Conclusion................................................................................................... 88 6. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis – The Existential Void of the Reagan Era and the Great Capitalist Beyond ................................................. 90 6.1 Bret Easton Ellis and his Novels.................................................................. 90 6.2 Less Than Zero Meaning............................................................................. 96 6.3 Existential Themes and Features in Less Than Zero .................................. 99 6.3.1 Myth ...................................................................................................100 6.3.2 Freedom and Responsibility.............................................................103 6.3.3 Absurdity and Nihilism......................................................................109 6.3.4 Disappearing ...................................................................................... 111 6.3.5 Alienation ...........................................................................................116 6.4 A " Catcher in the Rye for the MTV generation"? ...................................... 123 7. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 128 8. Bibliography........................................................................................................131 9. Index................................................................................................................... 135 German Summary.................................................................................................. 137 4 1. Introduction Existentialism is often referred to as a philosophical school, although its primary characteristic is that it is not a school at all. On the contrary, the many thinkers who have dealt with existential philosophy have taken quite different approaches to the subject, and most of them have also rejected to be subsumed under the label of "existentialism." Only a small group of French philosophers, including, most notably, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, actually called themselves existentialists. It was especially these latter two, Albert Camus, Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and the German Friedrich Nietzsche, whose existential views and ideas influenced American culture and literature between the late 19 th century and the early 1970s. The most significant impact was indisputably that of the French existentialists, whose philosophies and literary works became highly popular in the U.S. after World War II. As a matter of fact, their popularity was so great that, as a side effect of the dissemination of French existentialism in the American mainstream as well as on university campuses, strong clichés became attached to it. Many of these images are still associated with existentialism today: Paris cafés, black turtleneck sweaters, smoking cigarettes, and also a rather nihilistic outlook on life. However, it will be shown that the latter is indeed a cliché, and that French existentialism considered itself – and actually was – a positive philosophy. The aim of this thesis is to illustrate the impact of existentialism on American culture and literature, on the one hand, and to exemplify this influence by providing an analysis of two 20 th -century American novels, on the other. Since one of the defining features of existentialism is a stress on the individual and his or her subjective perspective, literature has always been its most important vehicle of expression. Philosophers like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, or Sartre have expressed their fundamental views in literary works or made use of the stylistic features of literature to convey their philosophical views. However, there are two kinds of existential literature. The first one is the one just mentioned, written by philosophers who incorporated key concepts of their thought into literary works. The second kind is literature which deals with fundamentally existential topics without being explicitly philosophical. As will be shown in chapters 3 and 4, which deal with existential literature in general, and with American 5 literature in particular, the range of novels and plays that can be interpreted existentially is a vast one. A closer look at relevant American authors will reveal that there is an existential tradition in American literature, with a limited number of authors who explicitly addressed existential themes. Some of these authors were directly influenced by or identified with existentialism, such as Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, whereas others, including Hemingway, Faulkner, or Salinger, focussed on existential subjects in their own ways, without apparent philosophical backgrounds. After a survey of existential philosophers and writers, as well as of typical elements and features of their literature, the center of attention in my discussion of American existential literature will move to two 20 th -century novels, which will be examined from an existential angle. J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was published