Expressions of a Self Without a Self in Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Abstract

In a world in which mothers kill their children, husbands kill their wives,

sons kill their parents, and people kill themselves to kill other people, it seems that

many of us have long lost the true sense of ourselves and our humanity. To remind

us of that old and precious meaning, Jeff Lindsay felt the urge to create a brilliant

psychotic serial killer, who wrestles with moral dilemmas and the nature of good and

evil. The originality of his concept comes from the invention of an artful psycho with

a heart, a man without a very well balanced self, but someone who is able to expose

and question the level of authenticity we have in different parts of our lives. A smart,

self-aware homicidal maniac in the tradition of Richard III and Hannibal Lecter, Dexter

is a very original kind of gothic villain, possessing all the duplicities, ambivalences and

paradoxes of a self defined by being a “neat monster”. A forensic blood-spatter special- ist for the Miami Police Department by day, and avenging serial murderer by night,

Dexter kills only people who deserve to die, which despite his violent actions defies

the moral boundaries of the human condition. Surpassing the clichés of eroticized vio- lence and the too serious scientific special effects of CSI series, Dexter’s narrative uses

an intelligent dark humour to subvert the rational power of forensic experts, showing

that an efficient professional can be as perverted by irrational impulses as the criminals

themselves, and what really obsesses a serial killer may turn to be the most normal

obsession for a common man: to keep up appearances. Concerned about passing as a

fully emotional member of the human race, Lindsay’s character deals with violence as

something intoxicating and thrilling, horrifying and beautiful. Whenever Dexter acts

inside the blackest cave of morality, his very expressive bloody patterns show he is the

murderous equivalent of Jackson Pollock.