Performative Realism and Post-Humanism in The Days of Abandonment

Abstract

This chapter aims to explore the theoretical foundations of Ferrante’s novel, The Days of Abandonment, which can be linked to the concept of performative realism and to the author’s intention of reprogramming the cognitive subject in a post-human direction. The subversion of this traditional cognitive process and its substitution with the new performative-based logic is what enables the character’s development and is thus the focus of my chapter. The protagonist is thus presented not as a victim of the events but rather as one of the agents in this process of concurrent causes where all elements involved are equally weighted. In this performative reality, the decisive role for the reinstatement of order and rationality in the moral subject is played by the dog Otto.

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