(SELF-)ISOLATION AS FORM OF SOLITUDE IN THE HERMIT BY EUGÈNE IONESCO AND THE DEAD [CITY OF] BRUGES BY GEORGES RODENBACH
(SELF-)ISOLATION AS FORM OF SOLITUDE IN THE HERMIT BY EUGÈNE IONESCO AND THE DEAD [CITY OF] BRUGES BY GEORGES RODENBACH

Summary/Abstract: (L’(auto)isolement comme forme de la solitude dans Le Solitaire d’Eugène Ionesco et Bruges-la-Morte de Georges Rodenbach) This article pursues the progression of two characters, the Loner from the novel entitled The Hermit by Eugène Ionesco, who is a French playwright, and Hugues from the novel The Dead [City of] Bruges written by the Belgian author Georges Rodenbach. Even though both novels are appurtenant to two different literary movements, a common characteristic can be easily deciphered in both of them: the theme of solitude. This theme is particularly portrayed in Occidental literature and its origins are even dating from ancient times, included in the writings of the Bible and before (The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example). The character created by Ionesco is the living representation of a loner. This evidence can also be sustained by the character’s name. After inheriting a large amount of money from his American uncle, a 35-year-old man decides to give up his workplace and move to a new apartment in the southern outskirts of Paris. Rodenbach’s character Hugues is also a true loner. After his wife’s death he isolates himself from everyone, therefore his desolation starts to become so overwhelming and frightening that he cannot escape it. Being portrayed as an analogous study, the article pursues the manifestation of solitude in both novels opened for evaluation.

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