Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Jumping Off X Flat Arch: The Adventure of Augie March

quick lessons picked up from

The Adventure of Augie March

which can probably impact for

the long time to come

The Adventure of Augie March

Picaresque novel

early form of novel,

usually a first-person narrative,

relating the adventures of a

rogue or low-born adventurer

(Spanish pícaro)

as he drifts from place to place and

from one social milieu to another in his effort to

survive.

 

Bildungsroman

the novel of personal development or of education

which charts the protagonist’s actual or metaphorical

journey from youth to maturity.

Initially the aim of this journey is reconciliation

between the desire for individuation (self-fulfilment)

and the demands of socialisation

(adaptation to a given social reality).

 

Everyman

In literature and drama the term has come to mean

an ordinary individual with whom

the audience or reader is

supposed to be able to

identify easily and who is

often placed in extraordinary circumstances

 

Existentialism

Existence is it's own point. 

Augie March bobs along from Chicago to Mexico

to Europe to an open boat in the Atlantic,

experiencing life and meeting a variety of characters-

observing without judging,

experiencing without changing,

seeking without finding. 

Life does not need to be affirmed, it simply is.

 

American Dream

is a national ethos of the United States in which

freedom includes the opportunity for

prosperity and success.

In the definition by James Truslow Adams in 1931,

“life should be better and richer and fuller

for everyone, with opportunity for

each according to ability or achievement

regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”.

 

American Adam

refers to the image of an authentic American as

a figure of heroic innocence and vast potentials.

Augie is similar to an early American Adam who

seeks to make America an earthly paradise.

 

Machiavellian Influences

Augie encounters Machiavellian-style individuals who

strategically exercise their energy, wit,

and influence,and look to the material world

for an understanding of their own.

From early childhood,

there are always influential figures,

all seek to influence Augie in some way.

Augie subsequently proves to be

highly susceptible to human influences.

 

Heraclitus’s Flux

a man can determine his character

as well as his fate, and that, like all things,

a man and his destiny are subject to change.

Augie, who exists in a constant state of flux,

hits a number of high and low notes along the way,

and his life is shaped by a variety of

human and environmental influences.

In the end, despite of the rapid succession of

experiences that he has undergone,

Augie remains Augie: his identity is a constant.

 

Quick Reference:

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459267/picaresque-novel

http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=119

http://www.definitions.net/definition/everyman

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-adventures-of-augie-march/study-guide/section8/

http://www.languageinindia.com/march2013/rajeswarifinal.pdf

http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/949