Aestheticism and identity information in Walter Pater's Marius The Epicurean

The novel of formation, or the Bildungsroman, is among the most popular types of fiction in Victorian England, especially with realists. Opposed to realism and representing one of the most powerful late-nineteenth-century avant-garde trends is aestheticism. Its initator, Walter Pater, is mostly known and widely acclaimed as the theoretician of this innovative aesthetic movement. In this respect Pater's novel Marius the Epicurean is written in accord with the Bildungsroman, but,distinguishably in the sense of its thematic and narrative elements, the text differs from both socially and morally concerned realistic novel of formation. Even if Marius have found no appropriate philosophy and ended prematurely his life, nevertheless he continuously investigate and prove distinctive philosophical systems objectifiying Pater's unique aesthetic doctrine. To Pater, carrying the spirit to the fleeting chain of impressionisms in a powerful way is the keystone for a succesful and productive life. The aim of the present thesis is to explain the literary importance of the novel, reveal its non-realistic pattern and show the ways in which Pater follows the tradition of the Bildungsroman while relating it to the philosophical and aesthetic issues in many aspects.