王安憶의『長恨歌』에 나타난 여성 공간의 ― ‘규방(閨閣)’을 중심으로

Abstract

As widely known already, in Changhenge as a representative work of Wang Anyi, the urban space of Shanghai has an important meaning. What should be paid attention to is that the story of a city ‘Shanghai' is revealed through the life of a Shanghai woman based on the women-centered micro-living narratives unrelated to the men-centered macro-historical narratives. Generally, a desire for escaping home shown in feminist literature is interpreted as a challenge of the patriarchal order, and also works as a major motif of women's exploration of self-identity. On the other hand, Wang Qiyao's movement in Changhenge is limited to the inside of house. Traditionally, ‘house’ is considered as a space for women while ‘street' is considered as a space for men. In this work, wherever she goes, the main background is not the ‘street' of city, but inside of ‘house'. Through the space represented as ‘guige(閨閣)' in Changhenge, Wang Anyi gives the positivity to the femininity with the peripheral meanings. Changhenge shows lots of matriarchal family narratives of mother and daughter. Especially, one of the noticeable elements is the absence of father and husband. Here, the absence of father could imply the absence of social norms. With the background of social confusion from the 1940s to the period of reform/opening, Changhenge shows the ambiguous position of fathers and the weakened authority of men. Changhenge narrates diverse cultures about women's life such as ‘making clothes', women's dress, hair look, sewing, and cooking in detail. In this work, the culture about women's life could be the expression of Wang Qiyao’s identity, and also the truth that reveals the orientation of author's consciousness because the spirit of tolerance and love of femininity becomes an effective methodology to overcome negative life attitudes of modernization.