로렌스 문학과 여성주의 담론의 불편한 동거: 나와 너 사이 “섬세하고, 끊임없이 떨리고, 변화하는 균형”을 찾아서

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the feminist responses toward and against D. H. Lawrence’s representation of sex. Notably, Lawrence’s fiction is both famous and notorious for its straightforward way of revealing carnal sex, even accused of being obscene and sexist. Especially since the period of the second wave feminism when women’s protest against patriarchy and male-dominance became a rightful cultural norm, Lawrence has been publically presented as one of the phallocentric male literary figures. As it is widely known and repeatedly referred to, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex plays the initial part in the dramatic change among somewhat controversial debates on Lawrence’s sexology, which later has been more rigorously extended and empowered by Kate Millett’s Sexual Politics. These iconic feminist readings vary in tones and details but without doubt converge toward one main argument that Lawrence’s perception of sex favours men physically, figuratively, and politically; and these worked well at least in terms of maintaining active readings and discussions on Lawrence no matter how uneasy it might have been. However, as time went by, although overall feminist criticism grew generally wider and deeper, Lawrence versus feminist discourses tend to be less polemical, almost seemingly old-fashioned, which I suggest acts as even heavier burden for feminist Lawrencian critics. Therefore I propose now is the time to refocus on the unresolved issues with Lawrence’s view of women and sex by re-reading of such well-known feminist criticism as Beauvoir and Millett in order to make a meaningful advance for a new approach aided by more recent studies, in particular Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity. In doing so, I hope to grasp a new possibility of embracing Lawrence’s “delicate, forever trembling and changing balance” by interrogating the necessity of fixed, immutable gender identities and adapting a new wave of feminist discourses.