Decolonizing Kate: D. H. Lawrence’s The Plumed Serpent as a Critique of Modern Western Individualism

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

By giving a postcolonial edge to T. M. Thompson’s suggestion that The Plumed Serpent registers “the real transformation occur[ing] in Lawrence’s vision,” a crucial part of which is “unlearning Europe,” I would like to argue in this essay that The Plumed Serpent concerns the process of “decolonizing” Kate. In the novel, Kate’s identity is dubious; although Kate seems to be present in the novel as “a European,” the novel as well as Kate notes that she is Irish. If Kate is the colonized as well as the colonizer, we can read The Plumed Serpent as a novel about decolonizing Ireland represented by Kate as much as about decolonizing Mexico. It is interesting that few Western critics have written about this issue. They tend to think of Kate more European than Irish, and they agree that this novel covers an encounter between a European woman and Mexicans, and in their reading, consequently, Kate represents Europe and her perspective is a Western perspective. Although seeing Kate this way is somewhat inevitable, it can imply the completeness of Kate’s colonization. This kind of criticism is only half-true. Therefore, in this essay, I would like to examine the ways in which the novel handles the issue of decolonizing Kate, arguing that an emphasis on Kate’s Irishness can make a significant revision of the reception of this novel. In particular, I will focus on the ideology of Western individualism as one of the lessons for Kate to unlearn before she is decolonized. After connecting this issue with insights from Franz Fanon, the main body of the essay deals with the process of decolonizing Kate. In the meantime, the genre of The Plumed Serpent is also discussed as the novel contains within itself a number of genres such as songs, hymns, and prayers, both Western and non-Western. This aspect of the novel, I argue, is identical with issue of decolonizing Kate. My conclusion, however, is not that individualism is replaced by collectivity or something of this nature in this novel but that the novel poses a serious question about modern Western individualism without providing any precise solution.

참고문헌 (Reference)

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