Erranza e vulnerabilità nella narrativa di Willy Vlautin

Inspired by the debate around notions such as elsewhere and dislocation in contemporary American post-western literature, this essay explores the interconnection between errancy and vulnerability as central themes in Willy Vlautin’s fiction. Focusing on works like The Motel Life (2006), Northline (2008), and The Night Always Comes (2021), the analysis highlights how Vlautin’s characters deal with economic and personal crises, while attempting to confront their marginal and vulnerable conditions. These stories articulate a renewed form of nomadism and alternative modes of dwelling, where errancy and dispossession emerge as forms of resistance to the pervasive effects of unregulated neoliberalism. In this context, Vlautin presents vulnerability not as passivity or resignation, but as a viable counterpoint to a diffused rhetoric of success and resilience, offering a critique of the ideological bases of contemporary American west.