Autobiographical abjection: Francis Xavier Enderby as Anthony Burgess’s residue

Abstract

Considering the possibility of an intersection between texts belonging to the biographical space of a given individual (which is an idea firstly suggested by Lejeune and expanded by Arfuch), as well as the potentiality to build new facets or alternative subjectivities about such an individual, generated by such intersections, I propose to analyse the character Francis Xavier Enderby, protagonist of the autobiographical novel Inside Mr. Enderby, by the English writer Anthony Burgess, as his alternative subjectivity. Furthermore, I propose a reading based on questions related to the notion of abjection. I understand that the writing of autobiographical fiction can be an exercise through which a given writer tries to acknowledge sides of his/her subjectivity he/she would not like to assume as part of his/her “I”, or an attempt to take control over disagreeable or traumatic experiences he/she has gone through, i.e. an attempt at dealing with his/her abject side. Following such a premise, I present comparisons between the self-image built by Anthony Burgess in his autobiography and the fictional character aforementioned.