The Case for Unity in the (Post)Modern Self<i>A Modest Proposal</i>

Abstract

Abstract In the opening scene of Austin Wright’s (1994) novel After Gregory, Peter Gregory tries to kill himself by throwing his body into a freezing river on a raw November night. Peter is a high-school English teacher. He is married and has two children. But Peter’s wife and children have recently left him. A sexual affair with one of his students is about to be exposed, and the girl’s father has threatened to sue. And just last night Jock Hadley was killed with a hammer. Peter hated Jock, his cantankerous next-door neighbor. But did he hate him enough to kill him? Peter is confused. Perhaps he killed Jock in a drunken rage. Two years ago, so drunk he could hardly recall any of the details at the ensuing trial, Peter had driven has car the wrong way on a freeway exit ramp, past the red “Wrong Way” sign and into oncoming traffic, driving for many miles before disaster finally struck. He caused a chain-reaction collision that left a mother and her two daughters dead. Because it was his first offense, the judge suspended Peter’s sentence. But the judge could do nothing to alleviate Peter’s public shame and his private guilt. I haven’t had a drink for two years, Peter reminds himself. Or has he? Maybe he was drinking last night, before Jock Hadley was hammered to death.