Mark's Signs/fwain's Twins: Narcissism in Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson

Abstract

Through his work "On Narcissism," Freud bequeathed an intellectual legacy in which the problems of subject and object were described, and in a sense delimited, by the classical iconology inherited with the very naming of "narcissism" itself. Studies of the double in literature are frequently informed by this model. Using Freud's standard formulation of narcissism as a point of departure, this paper examines the figure of the double in Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson. The argument rests on the claim that the narcissistic crisis in Pudd'nhead Wilson does not mirror all other such crises; rather, it is inscribed within certain particularities, a history, if you will. Perhaps Pudd'nhead Wilson is a historical novel, written as it is from a post-Civil War moment, reflecting back on Twain's relationship to the slavery of the American South. The "family romance" between the slave woman, Roxy, and her son impels the plot and constitutes that son as the exemplary narcissist; however, it is a psychological drama that is crossed and scarred by the deforming features of the slave economy.

Opsomming
Deur middel van sy werk "On Narcissism" het Freud 'n intellektuele erfenis nagelaat waarin die problematiek van subjek en objek beskryf word en in 'n sekere mate afgebaken is deur die klassieke ikonologie wat deur die einste betekenis van die woord "narsissisme" geerf is. Studies oor die dubbel binne die letterkunde word dikwels deur hierdie model geinformeer. Deur Freud se standaardformulering van narsissisme as vertrekpunt te gebruik, ondersoek hierdie artikel die figuur van die dubbel in Twain se Pudd'nhead Wilson. Die argument berus op die aanspraak dat die narsissistiese krisis in Pudd'nhead Wilson nie 'n spieelbeeld van alle ander sulke krisisse is nie, maar eerder dat dit binne bepaalde eienaardighede ingeskryf is. Moontlik is Pudd'nhead Wilson 'n historiese roman, geskryf, soos dit wel is, in 'n post-Siviele Oorlog moment, wat terugreflekteer op Twain se verhou­ding tot die slawerny van die Amerikaanse Suide. Die "familieromanse" tussen die slaw­evrou, Roxy, en haar seun is die aandrywingspunt van die storielyn en konstitueer daardie seun as die voorbeeldige narsissis: alhoewel dit 'n psigologiese drama is wat deurkruis en gelitteken is deur die misvormende eienskappe van die slawe-ekonomie.