Male Antihero Character in Bartol's Al Araf
In my thesis, I explore anti-hero character within Bartol’s collection of literary compositions Al Araf. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part covers my research on the term „anti-hero“ itself, its place in literature and life, its relationship with the hero character and what position the latter occupies. I begin with an examination of linguistic handbooks and dictionaries in Slovenian and English, followed by an investigation of the word's etymology. This is followed by a brief insight into the position of the hero within narrative according to Campbell and within the social context according to Klapp. I connect and combine their views and perspectives into a conclusion about the social and mythical role of the hero.
I then turn to the character of the anti-hero. First, I discuss the tragic hero in ancient Greece. Through Aristotle's thought in the Poetics and contemporary articles by Janez Vrečko, I interpret him as an anti-hero. Next, with the help of Lilian R. Furst’s article, I describe the sudden transition of the romantic hero of the 18th century into the anti-hero in the 19th. Finally, using Camus’s essays from The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel, I define the existentialist anti-hero in the novels The Stranger and Sartre's Nausea. In the conclusion, through a comparison of the discussed material, I redefine the anti-hero as a rebel against social conventions.
The second part covers the treatment of anti-heroes within the collection of literary compositions, Bartol’s Al Araf. I begin with Poljak from the composition „Sistem Ivana Groznega“ and continue with a detailed analysis of the characters Simon Krassowitz and Klement Jug, as they are presented in the compositions „Zadnji večer“, „Zapeljivec pod steno“ in „Na razpotju“. I conclude with a holistic interpretation of the anti-heroic elements of the character Simon Krassowitz through the concept of Al Araf, as described within the eponymous literary composition. I conclude by contextualizing Bartol’s characters based on a comparison with the cult existentialist anti-hero Travis from Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. I transpose Bartol’s characters into a contemporary context and confront them with reality of today’s crisis of male existential loneliness.
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