The Self and Care in the Neoliberal Biopolitical System: The Case of The Midnight Library

This paper examines the meaning of self-realization in the neoliberal biopolitical system by analyzing Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library (2020). To ensure historical relevance, this study compares The Midnight Library with the traditional Bildungsroman. Traditional Bildungsromane typically depict the protagonist’s process of socialization, in which they voluntarily internalize communal norms. The Midnight Library, instead, borrows the concept of parallel universes and relativizes multiple trajectories and meanings of growth, replacing normative and teleological narratives of the traditional Bildungsroman. In this regard, The Midnight Library can be considered a postmodern Bildungsroman. Drawing on theories of neoliberal biopolitics, this paper argues that while the novel celebrates the infinite possibilities inherent in one’s choices, it marginalizes the social contexts and power relations that condition such choices. That is, the novel threatens the emergence of narrative itself as it lacks a historical and social horizon in which human activities acquire meaning. Notably, the novel presents care as a meaningful activity that gives purpose to life. However, it emphasizes individual responsibility for care while excluding questions about its contextual dependency. As a result, care serves to maintain the status quo. In conclusion, this paper contends that The Midnight Library presents an (anti-)Bildungsroman that revolves around the repetition of sameness rather than pursuing any socio-historical meaning.