The Oedipus complex in fiction

Abstract

This study aims to know The Bookseller’s Notebooks intersects with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Oedipus Rex. We analyze the novelist’s proficiency at expressing contemporary human issues innovatively and artistically, focusing on the emotional struggle between parents and children. In particular, the study sheds light on the emotional and social struggles suffered by a marginalized, despised, and rejected societal group, namely illegitimate children (foundlings). The study’s findings suggest that more comparative studies of intertextuality between non-local works of literature should be attempted. This way, literature and literary criticism may enhance our understanding of other’s cultures to facilitate acceptance and peaceful coexistence.