Autistic Way of Thinking and Existentialistic Dimensions of Postpostmodernism

• Main Author: Dmytro Drozdovskyi
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University 2018-12-01
• Series: Pitannâ Lìteraturoznavstva
• Subjects: postmodernistic novel; English literature of the XXI Century; Mark Haddon; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”; autism; prime number theory; Existentialism
• Online Access: http://pytlit.chnu.edu.ua/article/view/154767

In the paper, the author has spotlighted the specific representation of autistic thinking in contemporary post-postmodernistic novel. Post-postmodernistic novels exploit neopositivistic strategies of world perception and analysis providing new philosophical outlook. The novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon is in the center of investigator’s attention. Christopher, the protagonist of M. Haddon’s novel, has a special way of thinking inherent in the strategy to objectify reality laying it out into basic causal elements and using mathematical models of world deciphering and understanding. The protagonist reveals lack of traditional emotionality providing ontological understanding of such phenomenon as death. Besides, his model of world perception develops existentialistic philosophical points. At the same time, the protagonist represents a special type of scientific mind seeking to learn the world in accordance with the concept of prime numbers and avoiding any form of emotionality. Lack of traditional emotionality does not neglect the representation of special forms of emotional intelligence in Christopher’s behavior and becomes a mechanism of avoiding social conflicts based on misunderstandings. The protagonist’s mind is represented in the novel as a revelation of post-postmodernistic way of thinking that combines irony and sincerity, physics and metaphysics. Scientific discourse in the novel is explicated as a source of understanding existential and metaphysic phenomena. Autistic mind of the protagonists represented in M. Haddon’s novel reveals a successful form of adaptation to reality and social interactions.