크리스테바와 『댈러웨이 부인』: 모성의 억압과 회복

Abstract

This paper examines how the notion of maternity in Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is repressed and restored, by borrowing Julia Kristeva's theory on maternity. Kristeva argues that "it is not a woman as such who is repressed in a patriarchal society, but motherhood." She also insists that depression and melancholia come from "the impossible mourning" for the loss and repression of maternal objects. Depression, she implies, can be overcome by restoring semiotic chora, which characterizes a maternal body. The restorative power of maternal love is evident when Kristeva argues that a psychoanalyst should provide a patient with maternal love, as the Virgin Mother offers unconditional love to her child. In this novel, Clarissa's mother is an absent figure and is only once mentioned. Clarissa cries when she sees Mrs. Hilbery, a maternal figure: Her cry represents the conflict between her maternal desire and its oppression. However, Clarissa restores her maternal body by recalling the jouissance that she had shared with Sally Seaton, and finally recovers from her depression due to maternal loss. Clarissa, as a party hostess, becomes a maternal subject, strengthening family connections and offering joy and peace to party guests. From Kristeva's perspective, her maternal activity is similar to the Virgin Mother's love. Clarissa has "no more fear" when she restores her maternal body in her union with Sally.