집의 (불)가능성 : 『제스처 라이프』에 나타난 분열된 욕망
(Im)possibility of Home: Split Desires in A Gesture Life
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The world of Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life is full of irony. When the protagonist-narrator Franklin Hata, a marginalized subject in the racial relations in the US, attempts at assimilation into the US social reality, all his seemingly harmless gestures toward the other people turn out to be extreme cruelties. Furthermore, he cannot resist the lure of American dream that promises him a seamless assimilation. Ironically, the more he doubts about the promise, the stronger his desire for assimilation becomes. The aim of this paper is to delve deep into this irony. In order to do this, this paper defines Hata's long and difficult journey from Korea to Japan, and finally to the US as a desire for an authentic home—a place that he can feel full presence of the self. In this journey, his desire for home is bifurcated. On the one hand, he unconsciously suffers from diasporic longing for the original homeland, Korea, which is expressed through his inevitable relationship with K and Sunny. On the other hand, he cannot give up the aspiration to become part of dominant culture, which finds its prolongation in his beloved Tudor house. However, this paper argues that his diasporic desire for Korea is in fact a precondition for his unconditional surrender to the dominant ideology.
Abstract
The world of Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life is full of irony. When the protagonist-narrator Franklin Hata, a marginalized subject in the racial relations in the US, attempts at assimilation into the US social reality, all his seemingly harmless gestures toward the other people turn out to be extreme cruelties. Furthermore, he cannot resist the lure of American dream that promises him a seamless assimilation. Ironically, the more he doubts about the promise, the stronger his desire for assimilation becomes. The aim of this paper is to delve deep into this irony. In order to do this, this paper defines Hata's long and difficult journey from Korea to Japan, and finally to the US as a desire for an authentic home—a place that he can feel full presence of the self. In this journey, his desire for home is bifurcated. On the one hand, he unconsciously suffers from diasporic longing for the original homeland, Korea, which is expressed through his inevitable relationship with K and Sunny. On the other hand, he cannot give up the aspiration to become part of dominant culture, which finds its prolongation in his beloved Tudor house. However, this paper argues that his diasporic desire for Korea is in fact a precondition for his unconditional surrender to the dominant ideology.
참고문헌 (12)
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