"Tertium non datur"? : wildness and methodology

Abstract

Of the two themes of this paper, i.e., wildness and methodology, the latter will come first. This does not mean that it will attempt either to tame or to dominate, or to eclipse wildness. I will start by highlighting a methodological issue and then will seek support from the wild via certain analogies. The methodological question that will be brought up surfaced at a departmental meeting with a paper on the marvellous, the feminine, and magic realism by Mary Macullan from the University o f North London. During our discussion regarding the problem of the manifestation o f the marvellous the discussants divided themselves into two opposing groups whose stances could be epitomized as the emphasis on difference, on the one hand, and the emphasis on similarity on the other hand.