“I can’t tell you exactly who I am”: A Deleuzian Reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Abstract

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a neglected short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It seems to have attracted more scholarly attention following the 2008 adaptation of the story by David Fincher. A review of the available literature on the short story evinces that instead of looking at how Benjamin experiments with new forms of thought and life, mostly the grotesque aspects of his reversed aging, as well as the moral evaluations of his actions are emphasized. In this regard, through the vitalistic philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, this article aims to argue that Benjamin’s reversed aging, as well as his against-the-grain actions, exemplifies nomadic life, which runs contrary to segmented or prefabricated modes of life and entails forgetfulness. In this regard, it is argued that Benjamin defies memory and history and assumes various identities to escape any signifying system. This article tries to illustrate how the philanthropic narrator of the story directs his readers’ attention toward reading the rhizomatic actions of Benjamin as deviant and pervert. In addition, this mode of narration, which endorses rationality and stability, operates in collusion with the paternalistic and normalizing father figures, including Benjamin’s father and son, in their suppression of fluidity, becoming, and childishness.

Keywords

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• rationalizing narrator
• forgetfulness
• becoming
• Gilles Deleuze

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