고향 부재의 텍스트: 『제스처 인생』에 나타난 귀속과 정체성의 문제
An Unhomely Text: Belonging and Identity in A Gesture Life
0
조회
0
다운로드
2
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
Chang-rae Lee's 1999 novel A Gesture Life is a memoir by Franklin Hata, who is an ethnic Korean adopted by a Japanese family and later settled in an American suburb. He aspires to belong and assimilate to his adoptive town, Bedley Run, and in a matter of decades becomes a “number-one citizen” and people say “Doc Hata is Bedley Run.” His Tudor house in a rich neighborhood visualizes the sense of belonging and “homeyness” he has craved for since his arrival in a new country. He seems to successfully be a part of the American mainstream society, which his relationship with a middle-class white woman, Mary Burns, shows. However, his adopted daughter Sunny and “K,” a Korean comfort woman during the Pacific War, interfere with his assimilation in such a way that they interrupt his desire for single identity as an American citizen which he believes will erase his ethnic and national identities. Adopted for his familial ideology, a Korean (possibly half-black) orphan, Sunny, becomes a symbol of his failure and reveals that his life is based on “gestures and politeness.” K is an object of his desire for a “pure” Japanese and at the same time something that frustrates his desire. When his proud house gets set alight and haunted by K, it becomes an “unhomely” house. His private home is now a public place where the history of comfort women, citizenship, and race dwells. Abandoning all the privileges associated with his house and accepting his hybrid identities, he leaves his home. He will not head for another home since such a home does not exist. The desire for a home and a stable identity, seemingly secured by home, cannot be fulfilled. We never reach a home, but “come almost home.”
Abstract
Chang-rae Lee's 1999 novel A Gesture Life is a memoir by Franklin Hata, who is an ethnic Korean adopted by a Japanese family and later settled in an American suburb. He aspires to belong and assimilate to his adoptive town, Bedley Run, and in a matter of decades becomes a “number-one citizen” and people say “Doc Hata is Bedley Run.” His Tudor house in a rich neighborhood visualizes the sense of belonging and “homeyness” he has craved for since his arrival in a new country. He seems to successfully be a part of the American mainstream society, which his relationship with a middle-class white woman, Mary Burns, shows. However, his adopted daughter Sunny and “K,” a Korean comfort woman during the Pacific War, interfere with his assimilation in such a way that they interrupt his desire for single identity as an American citizen which he believes will erase his ethnic and national identities. Adopted for his familial ideology, a Korean (possibly half-black) orphan, Sunny, becomes a symbol of his failure and reveals that his life is based on “gestures and politeness.” K is an object of his desire for a “pure” Japanese and at the same time something that frustrates his desire. When his proud house gets set alight and haunted by K, it becomes an “unhomely” house. His private home is now a public place where the history of comfort women, citizenship, and race dwells. Abandoning all the privileges associated with his house and accepting his hybrid identities, he leaves his home. He will not head for another home since such a home does not exist. The desire for a home and a stable identity, seemingly secured by home, cannot be fulfilled. We never reach a home, but “come almost home.”
참고문헌 (22)
- 유제분, "미국의 시민 신화와 시민 주체―맥신 홍 킹스턴의 소설에 나타난 시민권과 이민법의 문제", 영어영문학, 47(3), pp.689~712 (2001)
- 이소희, "제스처 인생에 나타난 젠더화된 트라우마", 현대영미소설, 13(1), pp.133~156 (2006)
- 정혜욱, "외상의 물질성과 이창래의 「제스처 인생」", 현대영어영문학, 51(1), pp.133~157 (2007)
- 프로이트, 지그문트., "두려운 낯설음", pp.97~150 (1996), 서울: 열린책들
- Anderson, Benedict., "Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised Edition" (1991), London: Verso
- Bhabha, Homi K., "The Location of Culture" (1994), New York: Routledge
- Carroll, Hamilton., "Traumatic Patriarchy: Reading Gendered Nationalisms in Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life", Modern Fiction Studies, 51(3), pp.592~616 (2005)
- Cheng, Anne Anlin., "Passing, Natural Selection, and Love's Failure: Ethics of Survival from Chang-rae Lee to Jacques Lacan", American Literary History, 17(3), pp.553~574 (2005)
- Engles, Tim., "Visions of Me in the Whitest Raw Light: Assimilation, and Doxic Whiteness in Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker", Hitting Critical Mass: A Journal of Asian American Cultural Criticism, 4(2), pp.27~48 (1997)
- Garner, Dwight., "An Interview: Adopted Voice", April, 29 (2007)
- "<http:", books, pp.99, 09[DOI]
- Jerng, Mark C., "Recognizing the Transracial Adoptee: Adoption Life Stories and Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life", MELUS, 31(2), pp.41~67 (2006)
- Lee, Chang-rae., "A Gesture Life" (1999), New York: Riverhead
- Lee, Chang-rae., "Native Speaker" (1995), New York: Riverhead
- Lee, Chang-rae., "Introductory Comments on A Gesture Life.” NYU School of Medicine. March", ~ (2001)
- "<http:", lit-med, pp.lit-med-db, webdocs[DOI]
- Lee, Gui-woo., "The Myth of Suburbia and Traditional American Values in Chang-rae Lee's Novels", Journal of American Studies, 37(1), pp.260~278 (2005)
- Lee, Young-oak., "Gender, Race, and the Nation in A Gesture Life", Critique, 46(2), pp.146~159 (2005)
- Lim, Shirley Geok-lin., "Immigration and Diaspora", pp.289~311 (1997), New York: Cambridge UP
- Lowe, Lisa., "Immigrant Acts" (1996), Durham: Duke UP
- Morrison, Toni., "Beloved" (1988), New York : Plume
- Said, Edward W., "Orientalism" (1978), New York: Vintage