Puer Existens: Subverting the Puer Aeternus Figure in the Comic Strip as Exemplified with Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/LL.1.2019.002Keywords
existentialism, situation, comic strip, puer aeternus, puer existens, childAbstract
The article presents an interpretation of Calvin and Hobbes in light of the concepts of existential philosophy and psychology. In this context, the protagonist is shown as a puer aeternus figure, which is typical of the comic strip genre. Indeed, Calvin is a good example of the puer aeternus. After all, he lives season by season in an idyllic neighbourhood and does not grow up. Yet, a closer look reveals cracks in this Arcadian picture of childhood. Calvin is regularly put in situations (in the meaning developed by Karl Jasper) that make him choose. Referring to Clémentine Beauvais's idea of the puer existens figure invoked in relation to the works of Jean Paul Sartre, the article presents Calvin as being more a puer existens than a puer aeternus. As a result, we can see Calvin as a child who, by his very own choices, makes himself and creates the world around him rather than as an eternally happy child who has been frozen in time.References
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