THE IMAGERY OF THE ABSURD HERO IN WHITMAN’S “A LEGEND OF LIFE AND LOVE” IN LIGHT OF ALBERT CAMUS

Abstract

The current study tries to present a new reading to Whitman’s short story “A Legend of Life and Love” as dealing with an absurd theme that can give ethics similar to those one located in Camus’ essay “The Myth of Sisyphus.” The protagonist of the story will stand as an absurd hero who overwhelms the miseries and ends with relative happiness. The study will use Albert Camus’s philosophy of the absurd hero as a touchstone and a guide line to present a new reading to the theme of Whitman’s “A Legend of Life and Love.” Camus’s essay “Myth of Sisyphus” will be used for this purpose. The study will imply Camus’s absurd ideas as a lens to explain the theme of the story. The researcher has noted indications of absurdity in Whitman’s “A legend of life and love.” Although the story is said to deals with autobiographic issue, it can be read as a lucid invitation to live in an area of happiness within the very heart of the desert. As such it can be used to deal with an existential issue. Nathan, the protagonist, represents the absurd hero whose picaresque life continues regardless of the meaninglessness of the universe. Presenting the
protagonist as an absurd hero in light of Camus’s philosophy, the reader will be enriched with hope of life and leave away the idea of the plain and philosophical suicide. It will help the researcher to read Whitman from an absurd point of view. While the rare earlier studies on this story have focused on the theme of separation between brothers and read the story as an autobiographic one, the current study reads the theme as an absurd one. The protagonist of the story can be read as Sisyphean one. Moreover, absurdity finds its hints in Whitman early writings.