1980년대 월간 노동해방문학의 히스테리적 주체 - 정지아의 「동지의 집」을 중심으로 -

박규준 한민족어문학회 2023 韓民族語文學 Vol.- No.99

This paper explored the desire of Gang Soon, the central character in Jeong Ji-A’s House of Comrades, and the process of establishing a new subject with the concept of hysterical subject. Gang Soon changed from an ordinary female worker to a progressive worker, and from am obedient wife to a character who overcame the patriarchal system. This meant that she changed to a new subject that would reject the identification of ideology, not the subject called capitalism and patriarchy, which were the ruling ideologies. This paper analyzed labor literature centered on an active subject such as subject’s desire, choice, and rejection. This deviateds from the existing position of analyzing labor literature as a confrontation between ideologies and viewing characters as passive subject that reflect the ideology. In Jeong Ji-ah’s novel, two stories were overlapped from Gang Soon’s point of view. One was Gang Soon's life as a worker and the other was her life as a wife. Rather than describing the story centered on the event, the story centered on Gang Soon’s own internal conflict and change in desire. The reason Gang Soon alienated herself while submitting to the fantasy of the capitalist symbolic order was because she was also a being of fantasy, like the head of the personnel department. When she broke away from the department head, Gang-soon faced the reality of subject, that is, herself, who always alienated in a state of unfulfilled desire. When she broke away from the department head, Gang Soon’s obedient love became a source of strength during the labor movement. She obediently sacrificed herself in her marriage, keeping the order of her home established by her husband to satisfy her love desire. She found herself doubting herself in a state of unsatisfied desire as a wife. Recognizing the reality of her subject was the starting point to overcome the patriarchal symbolic order. Life as a worker and wife had always been unsatisfying for Gang Soon. In her life, in order to overcome the fantasy that concealed the subject and other’s lacking desire, she must have endless self-acts to face the object of her lacking desire even if it failed. Gang Soon, a hysterical subject as a failed interpellation, was divided and angry in the symbolic order. Her actions led to the failure of efforts of dominant symbolization to integrate division. In the end, Gang Soon’s union activities as a class antagonism constantly generated new symbolization as a repetition of class struggle. Gang Soon acted independently to find her love in the ideological illusion of a patriarchal symbolic order, blocking her and her husband. Her anger at her manager and husband, union activities as a class struggle, and rejection of the patriarchal system made it impossible for her to become an object of enjoyment without the desire of the subject disappearing as she was integrated and symbolized in the dominant symbolic order of capitalism and the patriarchal world. In conclusion, this study suggests that the failure of these subject and repetition of dissatisfied desires were the behavior of a hysterical subject who discovered new symbolic signs in reality. 본고에서 히스테리적 주체 개념으로 정지아의 「동지의 집」의 중심인물인 아내 강순의 욕망과 새로운 주체 정립 과정을 분석했다. 강순은 평범한 여성노동자에서 선진노동자로, 희생적인 아내에서 가부장제도를 극복하는 인물로 변한다. 이것은 인물이 지배 이데올로기인 자본주의와 가부장제에 호명된 주체가 아니라 이데올로기의 동일시를 거부하는 새로운 주체라는 것을 의미한다. 그동안 노동문학을 이데올로기 간의 대립으로 분석하고 인물은 그 이데올로기를 반영하는 수동적 주체로 보는 입장에서 벗어나 주체의 욕망, 주체의 선택과 거부 등과 같이 능동적인 주체 중심으로 분석하고자 한다. 정지아의 「동지의 집」은 두 가지 이야기가 강순의 시점에서 충첩되어 서술되고 있다. 하나는 노동자로서 삶이고 또 하나는 아내로서의 삶이다. 이 이야기는사건 중심으로 서술하기보다 사건에 대한 강순 자신의 내적 갈등과 욕망의 변화중심으로 전개되고 있다. 강순이 자본주의 상징질서의 환상에 복종하면서 스스로 자신을 소외하는 것은 자신도 인사과장과 같은 환상의 존재이기 때문이다. 강순은 인사과장에게서 벗어나며 주체의 실체, 즉 항상 소외된 존재이며 욕망이 불만족한 상태인 자신을 대면한다. 강순의 희생적 사랑은 노동운동을 하면서 힘이 되고, 결혼해서 자신을 희생하며 남편이 만들어 놓은 가정의 질서를 지키면서 사랑의 욕망을 충족하려 하였다. 아내로서 불만족한 욕망 상태에서 의심하는 자기 자신을 발견하는 것이다. 주체의 실체를 자각하는 것이 가부장적 상징질서를 극복하는 출발점이다. 강순의 노동자로서의 삶과 아내로서의 삶은 언제나 충족되지 않은 결여되어 있는 것이며, 주체와 타자의 결여된 욕망을 은폐하고 있는 환상을 넘어서려면 실패할지라도 결여된 욕망의 대상과 대면하려는 끝없는 자신의 행위가 있어야 한다. 실패한 호명으로서 히스테리적 주체인 강순은 상징질서에서 분열하고 분노했다. 그리고 분열을 통합하기 위한 지배적 상징화의 노력들이 실패하게끔 만든다. 결국 계급적 적대로서 강순의 노조활동은 계급투쟁의 반복으로서 끊임없이 새로운 상징화를 발생시킨다. 강순은 자신과 남편 사이를 가로막고 있는 가부장적 상징질서의 이데올로기 환상 속에서 자신의 사랑을 찾기 위한 주체적 행위를 한다. 강순의 인사과장에 대한 분노, 계급투쟁으로서 노조활동, 남편에 대한 분노, 가부장제에 대한 거부는 지배적 상징질서인 자본주의와 가부장적 세계에 통합되어 상징화되어 주체의 욕망이 사라지고 타자의 향유의 대상이 되는 것을 불가능하게 하는 것이다. 이러한 주체의 실패와 불만족한 욕망의 반복은 현실에서 새로운 상징적 징후를 발견하는 히스테리적 주체 행위이다

시의 정치화와 시적인 것의 정치성 : 임화의 「네 거리의 순이」와 이상의 「가외가전(街外街傳)」에 나타난 시적 주체(화자) 유형에 대한 해석을 중심으로

함돈균 원광대학교 인문학연구소 2011 열린정신 인문학연구 Vol.12 No.1

This thesis compare Yi Sang’s poetry with Yim Wha’s poetry from the political viewpoint in literature. Until now Yim’s poetry was regarded as a radical political poetry, so called the realism, while Yi’s poetry was regarded as an extreme non-political poetry. Yim’s poetry show us a actuality by means of a dramatic narrative, so called the short epic. The subject(speaker) in Yim’s poetry very well knows his own political and historical ‘real’. Therefore we are able to call the subject of certainty or omniscient subject.. But contrary to preconception, 「Soon Yi on the crossing street」, his representative poetry, is not radical poetically. Because of eradication of uncertainty and coincidence.Whereas Yi’s poetry show us un obscure real by means of a poetic irony. The subject in Yi’s poetry always fall into confusion, what is my own real? What is the called as the unknowing subject or ‘hysterical subject’ from the perspective psychoanalysis. According to the perspective S.Žižek, who appropriates Lacan’s insight on social and ideological levels, hysterical subject is related to the real concealed by symbolic order or to the lack and contradiction of the world. Based on such problematics, Žižek understands the moment at which hysterical subject poses question(Che vuoi?) as symptom of the exposure of the fissures in the symbolic order and interprets this as a moment at which ideological fantasy is ruptured. The speaker(poetic subject) in 「Kawoekazeon(街外街傳)」, Yi’s poety, is hysterical subject. He poses hysterical question by means of the seeing the lack in his own real.According to this interpretation, Yi’s poetry is able to be regarded more radical than Yim’s poetry poetically. Then Yi’s poetic radicality is radical not only aesthetic but also political.

박완서 단편소설에 나타난 주체와 타자 연구

정연희 ( Yeon Hee Jeong ) 민족어문학회 2012 어문논집 Vol.- No.66

이 논문의 목적은 라캉의 주체와 타자의 개념을 통해 박완서의 단편소설에 나타나는 주체와 타자의 관계 양상을 검토하는 것이다. ‘아버지의 이름’으로 은유되는 타자와 ‘아버지의 이름’ 아래에서 분열된 주체의 문제는, 전쟁의 참혹한 현실에서 안정된 일상의 위선에 이르기까지 다양한 풍경들을 포착하는 박완서 문학의 내적 일관성을 읽어낼 수 있는 유용한 도구가 된다. 주체와 타자의 문제는 그의 문학에서 지속적으로 견지되는 핵심적인 주제인 것이다. 박완서의 문학은 잔혹한 전쟁의 상처와 반공이데올로기의 두려움과 이데올로기의 허울됨에 대한 혐오감으로 요약할 수 있다. 반공이데올로기가 거의 모든 상징적 관계를 대체하는 현실은 집단적 정신병으로 포착되고, 반공이데올로기의 압력에 종속된 주체는 두려움과 의문을 이중적으로 드러낸다. 그러는 한편 박완서 문학은 기본적으로 신경증적 주체의 심리구조를 보여준다. 화자는 자신뿐만 아니라 전후현실에 깊이 내재한 두려움과 상처를 주목하고 그로부터 생겨났을 이기심과 안정 지향성에 대해 날카로운 의문을 던지는 것이다. 그런 점에서 박완서의 문학은 근본적으로 히스테리자의 담화라고 할 수 있다. 이러한 담화적 현실에서 작가는 ‘생명’ 혹은 ‘자연’을 이상적인 법의 위치에서 긍정한다. 이는 아버지의 법을 보증하는 타자, 즉 타자의 타자로서 절대적인 법의 지위를 갖는다. 생명 혹은 자연은 이데올로기 현실의 허울됨을 가려내는 상징적인 준거가 된다. 이데올로기의 현실은 본성상 허구인 상징적 현실로서 주체가 벗어버릴 수 없는 불가피한 실존의 조건이지만 상징적 현실이 지속되기 위해서는 이를 지지해주는 실재가 발견되거나 경험되어야 한다. 박완서의 문학은 전쟁과 전후의 이데올로기 현실이 실재(생명)에 의해 지지되지 않고 절대법(자연)에 의해 보증되지 않는 헛것에 불과하다는 사실을 간파한다. 박완서의 소설은 우리 현실의 물신숭배적 전도를 폭로하고 세상살이를 생명/적인 것의 수준에서 의미화하는 변증법의 순환과정에 있는 것이다. This paper aims to examine relationship the Subject and the Other in Park Wanseo`s novels, based on the concept of Lacan`s the Subject and the Other. The metaphor of ``the Name of the Father`` that refers to the paternal function, this is the Other. ``The divisive Subject`` under the name of the Other and ``the Other``, this problem is the useful tool to understand the consistent of Park Wanseo`s novels, because her characteristics have been living diverse realities, that is ideology reality and historical reality, Capitalist family, stable day-to-day, vulgarian reality. Park Wanseo`s literature can be summarized as hurt of KoreanWar and disgusted of vain ideology and awe of anticommunist ideology. The symbolic reality been rewritten anticommunist ideology is understanding of collective psychosis, and the awe of subject under anticommunist ideology and the question of subject about ideology are appeared. But narrator show the psyche of the neurotic subject. The narrator is used to question sharply about self-interest and stable directional contained in self-reality. Self-interest and stable directional arose from the fear and hurt of symbolic reality. In that sense, Park Wanseo`s literature can be said essentially the hysteria discourse. Furthermore, the writer captured the reality of deprivation or absence of ideal paternal, and in which oriented the ideal law. It is the Other that vouch for the power of the Father, that is to say, it is to introduce absolute law as the Other of the Other. Specifically speaking, it is vitality and the vitality is to became symbolic standard that discern empty of ideology. The ideology reality as the symbolic reality is inevitable condition of existence. The symbolic reality, to be sustained, has the real like direct attribution of the symbolic. Park Wanseo`s literature has an insight that ideology reality is fiction and performative effect only. Fetishism perversion of our`s is uncovered by Park`s novels, and Park`s novels is the process of dialectical circulation signified vitality as a means of human life.

신경증자의 발견과 탈 나르시시즘 주체의 구제 - 이광수의 『유정(有情)』을 중심으로 -

김용하 ( Kim Yong-ha ) 국제어문학회 2010 국제어문 Vol.49 No.-

Lee Gwang-Soo`s 『Yujeong』 represented a modern ethics. He appreciate modern neurotic subject`s limit. That is, a neurotic subjects - a hysteric, a melancholiac, a paranoi(a)c, a obsessional-are ultimately ruined by a narcissism desire. The love based on a narcissism desire can`t communicate, because its way is based on the ego centralism. A ego centralism don`t acknowledge a otherness. But he thought a post-narcissism subject get over ego centralism` limit. That is, he discovered post- narcissism is the only way modern neurotic subject`s limit can overcome. His ethical narrative is that modern affection can aid modern man become inter-subject. In brief, his 『Yujeong』 appears that modern ethic can reflect modern man`s inner landscape.

1970년대 여성문학 ―여성전업작가의 등장과 다양한 글쓰기 주체의 성장―

이선옥 ( Sunok Lee ) 한림과학원 2020 개념과 소통 Vol.- No.26

During the 1970s, it may be said that the scope and contours of South Korean women’s literature were first roughly defined. Indeed, the work of mapping women’s literature began during this period. Although women’s literature lacked defining characteristics or an identity, this period saw the emergence of professional female writers, and for the first time it became possible to put the experiences of primarily middle-class women into writing. In short, it was a period during which the female genre was formed. The nationalist dictatorship, with its emphasis upon economic development, sought the rapid restoration of masculinity, and during this period the imaginary of the mechanical body emerged as hegemonic masculinity. The establishment of the writing subject in women’s literature arose out of the hysterical subject and the female proletarian writer, and it appears that this process was related to the rapid strengthening of nationalistic patriarchy. For this reason, the feminist voices that appeared in popular novels, which were one method of resisting the male-centric literary system, deserve close attention. We must recognize that women’s desires to make a place for themselves within the literary system and the efforts of marginalized women to speak about their experiences can be manifest in many forms. Indeed, the work of identifying and naming these voices is an important task for rewriting the history of women’s literature. Women writers of the 1970s can be considered as the hosts of various masquerade balls that took place under a patriarchal literary system in which women were not able to speak of their experiences. In particular, subjects with hysterical neurosis who spoke with their bodies can be seen as a method through which women’s literature resisted the patriarchy by inscribing the unutterable experiences of women on their bodies. This can also be interpreted as the literary strategy of the writing female subject who still lacked a language with which to express her own experiences. Moreover, women laborers, who were mobilized in large numbers to enhance labor productivity at this time, brought about a new concept of the female subject as a laboring body, which was an important topic to be written about. Although the writings of this time were limited to somewhat unsophisticated essays, these were supplemented by “production” novels, which also succeeding in incorporating the experiences of the body. In addition, female writers were pioneers in the realm of popular literature at the frontiers of the literary system. Ultimately, however, these initial developments in 1970s women’s literature were restructured into the territory of ideological camps: becoming feminist and “people’s” literature, which brought new difficulties for the female writing subject.

〈수〉 : 후근대를 사는 히스테리적 주체의 운명적 죽음에 관한 보고

김소연(Kim Soh Youn) 한국영화학회 2007 영화연구 Vol.0 No.33

Soo was not welcomed by the majority of spectators mainly because the film left the 'unkind' margins and gaps in its narrative. Nevertheless, one might find this film interesting, considering it as an allegorical work in which the protagonist showed the destined death of the hysteric subject in postmodern Korea. Then, who is the hysteric subject exactly? From the perspective of Lacanianism, it is characterized as being resistant to the master by repeated asking of 'who am I?' to the Other, not accepting the answer from the Other. In Korean history, the military dictator(ship) in the 80s posited itself as the master who imposed the law(s) to the people. The hysteric subject, so called the 386 generation, consisted mostly of the university students and religious leaders, was protesting against the dictatorship badly, and their resistance finally reached the achievement of formal democracy in the 90s when the academic discourse began to be dominant instead of the master's discourse. Accordingly, most hysteric subjects adjusted themselves to the new symbolic order. However, what if the hysteric subject still insists to be resistant to the postmodern condition? I read this film as an answer to that supposition. In this film, the protagonist Taesoo and his twin brother Taejin, Taesoo's patron Song In and Taejin's previous supposed-to-be-boss Gu Yangwon are in the relationship between the doubles. However, the binary opposition between the good and the evil does not fit into this relationship since Taesoo seems to on the side of the weak and Gu Yangwon represents the successful father figure and Taejin and Song In cannot be fully justified as being trustful. This mingled evaluation may be one condition of the postmodern. In addition, That Gu Yangwon, the father of jouissance kills Song In, the father of prohibition could be the other condition of the postmodern. As a hysteric, Taesoo fights on behalf of his brother against Gu Yangwon who must order to kill Taejin. In fact, it is an impossible trial to set him against Gu Yangwon who represents the powerful postmodern order itself. However, Taesoo dares to do that without any hesitation, as Taejin is his kernel of identity outside of him. The result is no doubt failure, but for both of them, Taesoo and Gu. Everybody seemed not to be survived, except for Taesoo for the time being. It reads as the auteurs willful perspective under which the hysteric can change the circumstances and still be alive. However, this film leaves the unconscious fear of the next generation who is raised by the father of jouisseance and can deal with knives from behind with great skills and with no mercy.

트랜스미디어 스토리텔링 팬덤의 히스테리적 특성 연구 - <마블 시네마틱 유니버스> 팬덤을 중심으로 -

서성은(제1) ( Seo Seong Eun ),이병안 ( Lee Byung Ahn ),서성은(교신) ( Seo Seong Eun ) 디자인융복합학회 2017 디자인융복합연구 Vol.16 No.5

This study aims at proving that fandom of transmedia storytelling has the structural congruity with the hysterical subject in the psychoanalysis. According to Freud·Lacan, the hysterical subject is the one who endures and maintains deficiency well since he has no experience of satisfaction at all. The hysterical subject asks a question about desire of Other by imaginary identification with other and quests for his desire by symbolic identification with Other. Transmedia storytelling has a fundamental lack caused from media fragmentation and users are likely to defer their satisfaction and restore the entire storyworld through continuous transmedia to fill up the lack of the storyworld. Hence, in order to identify characteristics of transmedia fandom as the hysterical subject, this paper made an attempt of the discourse analysis on the online bulletin board of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom. Research findings show that Marvel fandom is crossing media to make up for the lack of a story, identifying with characters imaginarily in such a process and experiencing the symbolic identification with the entire storyworld of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

1990년대 은희경 소설의 섹슈얼리티

심진경 ( Jinkyung¸ Shim ) 세계문학비교학회 2020 세계문학비교연구 Vol.72 No.-

The paper aims to examine how easily women’s sexual freedom turns into exploitable for men within the patriarchal discourse combined with capitalism, while women’s sexual deviance and freedom lead to the emergence of new female figures through the discourse on sexual liberation in the 1990s. The female characters in Eun Hee-kyung’s novel are not the subjects of sexual freedom and liberation, but rather the ones located on the “border” between the existing sexual order and sexual confusion. They play the subject of sexual desire and pleasure, leaning on a popular image of women’s desires on the one hand, but also masquerading as a passive subject who wants to remain the object of male desire on the other. This is why Eun Hee-kyung’s novel, while raising the issue of male ideology, does not go as far as overthrowing paternal authority. Based on this point, this article aims to look at the sexuality of Eun Hee-kyung’s novel in the 1990s in two broad aspects. One is an analysis of the sex scenes reproduced in the novel, while the other is an analysis of the gender hierarchy between “Looking at Me” and “Seeing Me.” And based on this, the article reveals that the female characters of Eun Hee-kyung’s novel in the 1990s are still trapped in the gaze of the male-centered patriarchal system while challenging and resisting the limitations of the male-dominated system. The female characters of Eun Hee-kyung’s novel in the 1990s can be regarded as hysterical subjects in that they want to make themselves objects of men’s desires while rejecting such a masculine order.

라캉의 담론이론으로 본 크리스토퍼 놀란의 영화

윤보협 한국영화학회 2024 영화연구 Vol.- No.102

This study attempted to apply the basic advantages of Lacan discourse theory to the study of character behavior and conflict in text, mainly because it stems from the concept of the subject that can resist the domination of discourse. To achieve this goal, As the basis of mainstream movies this study presupposes the discourse of hysteric in which the split subject becomes the agent in four different discourses. It analyzes the plot as a three-acts structure that clearly shows the change in character behavior and the conflict in text composition through questioning, deliberation, and resolution. In Nolan’s film, the master signifiers of a specific society and the main character conflict. Eventually, the protagonist is left as a split subject who resists or adapts to changing situations. In short, in “Memento” (2000) and “The Dark Knight” (2008), the master signifier of the society is close to money, pleasure, and violence, and conflict occurs because the protagonists with certain trauma represent the master signifier of resistance with their own identity. In “Inception” (2010) and “Interstellar” (2014), the master signifier, the Other in that era are closely related to distorted or extinguished desire. Conflict is triggered because the protagonists have their own identity as specific trauma and resist the distortion and despair of desire. In “Dunkirk” (2017) and “Oppenheimer” (2023), the master signifier of the society of that era was viewed as close to ideological patriotism, and the protagonists encounter the Real which were influenced by their identity. And they timidly or faithfully resist the ideological master signifier. 이 연구는 라캉 담론이론의 기본적인 장점을 텍스트의 캐릭터 행동과 갈등 연구에적용해 보고자 했는데, 이는 주로 주체의 개념에서 비롯되고 그 개념이 담론의 지배에 대한 저항할 수 있는 주체이기에 그렇다. 이러한 목적을 달성하기 위해 라캉 담론분석을 적용하여 지배 담론(주인 담론과 대학 담론)과 저항 담론(히스테리 담론과 분석가 담론)에서 분열된 주체가 행위자가 되는 히스테리 담론을 주류 영화 서사의 기본으로 전제하고 놀란 영화에 적용하여 캐릭터 행동의 변화와 텍스트 구성의 갈등을선명하게 보여주는 3막, 즉, 플롯을 의문의 제기와 숙고 그리고 해결로 보는 3막 구조로 분석한다. 놀란의 영화에서 특정한 사회와 주인공의 주인 기표는 갈등한다. 결국 주인공은 변화하는 상황에 저항하거나 적응한 분열된 주체로 남겨진다. 요컨대, <메멘토>(Memento, 2000)와 <다크 나이트>(The Dark Knight, 2008)에서 그 사회의 대타자, 주인 기표는 돈과 쾌락 그리고 폭력과 밀접하고 갈등은 어떤 트라우마를 가진 주인공들이 독자적 정체성으로 저항의 주인 기표를 표상하기에 일어난다. 그리고 <인셉션>(Inception, 2010)과 <인터스텔라>(Interstellar, 2014)에서 그 시대의 대타자, 주인기표는 왜곡되고 소멸된 욕망과 밀접하다. 그러나 <인셉션>과 <인터스텔라>의 주인공들이 특정한 트라우마로 독자적 정체성을 가지고, 욕망의 왜곡과 절망에 저항하기에갈등이 유발된다. 그리고 <덩케르크>(Dunkirk, 2017)와 <오펜하이머>(Oppenheimer, 2023)에서 그 시대 사회의 주인 기표는 이념적 애국심과 밀접한 것이고, 주인공들은어떤 실재를 접하고 그들의 독자성에 영향을 받고 이념적 주인 기표에 소심하게 혹은소신 있게 저항한다.

여성의 시간, 서사 그리고 민족

임우경(Im WooKyung) 한국중국현대문학학회 2010 中國現代文學 Vol.0 No.55

This paper tries to analyse what the ‘anxiety’ is as shown in the Eileen Chang(張愛玲)'s short stories Chuanqi( 傳奇, Legend) from the perspective of the women and national imaginary relation. The special edition of the Chuanqi was published in fall, 1946, when Eileen Chang was lashed out ‘traitor(漢奸)’ after the defeat of the Japanese Empire. She couldn't choose but explain about her being a ‘traitor’ in order to stand up again as a writer, and we can trace her explanation in the foreword “To the Readers(有幾句話同讀者說)” added to the special edition, the epilogue “Day and Night in China (中國的日夜)” and the new cover picture. Eileen Chang flatly denied her being a ‘traitor’ in the “To the Readers”, and in the “Day and Night in China” did she do the same indirectly through an emotional telling of everyday life right after the Liberation. She also wrote that she changed the cover picture with the intention to send the audience ‘anxiety’. Laying all this as background against which we can look at the word ‘anxiety’ she cast as a keyword in explaining the relation of women and nationhood, this paper tries out a ‘symptomatic reading’ of “To the Readers”, “Day and Night in China” and the cover picture, all three comprising an intertext. According to its findings, the cover picture of the special edition of the Chuanqi forms a metaphor of an outsider's perspective of hysterical female subject, of her narrative strategy and of the non-linear, accumulative time of the women returned through that strategy. In this regard, we can say that the ‘anxiety’ found throughout the Chuanqi is an effect out of a feminist narrative which anxiously transforms the male nationalist narrative of Enlightenment and supplements a heterogenous national imaginary. This kind of analysis will lead off from the pre-existing binarism towards a multi-layered conceptualization with regard to the relation between modern female subject formation and the national imaginary, and give a roundabout answer to the still persistent debate over Eileen Chang being a ‘traitor’.