Intercultural Comparisons: The Case of Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2012.4.8Keywords:
intercultural/cross-cultural relations, Bakhtin, dialogism, Thornton Wilder, Prosper MériméeAbstract
The essay aims to discuss the issue of intercultural comparison by concentrating on Thornton Wilder’s novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) which is constructed as an appropriation of Prosper Mérimée’s play Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement (1829). On the one hand, the novel can be read in its relation to the prior text, as a comparison of two works originating from different authors, times and cultures. On the other hand, Wilder’s novel can be read as a comparison of its diverse interpretations and receptions produced in different historical and cultural contexts from the period of the Great Depression – through the second half of the twentieth century – to the beginning of the new millennium The varying positions the book acquires in relation to the dominant literary and ideological discourses of particular historical and cultural moments vividly illustrate the dialogic nature of literary discourse and the phenomenon Bakhtin called refraction.
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