ABSTRACT
"Brave and remarkable hero", "Alzheimer's victim": the paradoxical contraposition of these words and concepts, introduced by Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, defines an important conceptual premise and a significant starting point for my reflection on the paradoxical quest of the wounded hero in contemporary literature. The post-postmodern self of Alice does not move between different positions, but in fact inhabits all of these positions at the same time, thus problematising the perception of individual and collective identities. In this chapter the author suggests that, in a post-postmodern scenario, the hero returns neither as a task-oriented person fuelled by efficiency and instrumental rationality, nor as the "inarticulate" hero, but rather as a complex, vulnerable, multiple self, capable of overcoming the obstacles to growth, self-realisation, and definition of identity. Post-postmodern heroes are the metaphoric wanderers of the world, seeking truths and questioning established hierarchies and values.
