Bodily Discipline and Spiritual Breakthrough: A Study of Spatial Narrative in Han Kang's Novels - Taking The Vegetarian and The Vegetarian Wife as Examples

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jhet.202615427

Author(s)

Zhu Yuhan

Affiliation(s)

Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China

Abstract

The Vegetarian and The Vegetarian Wife are representative works by the Korean woman writer Han Kang. Han Kang employs surrealist writing to expose the existential predicaments of East Asian women. Henri Lefebvre's triadic dialectic of space will be used as the theoretical basis of this paper, along with Simone de Beauvoir's theory of the Other and Chizuko Ueno's critique of patriarchy, to conduct a spatial narrative analysis of Han Kang's novels. Han Kang constructs three interrelated physical spaces in her works - the domestic, the artistic, and the medical - each of which serves as a site where power is exercised and bodies are disciplined in distinct ways. Family space is usually violent and characterised by normative control; the artistic sphere reveals the male gaze and the consequent alienation of the female body; The medical space functions as an institution that pathologises women's resistance, diagnosing it as mental illness. Han Kang creates a world of psychology through symbols, and through images such as trees and birthmarks, she has built an inner spiritual space for her female characters that can provide some comfort and resistance to the pressure of society. According to the analysis of social space, women are under structural oppression, which includes the marginalisation of subjects and exploitation of differences among women. Han Kang's spatial narration shows that the spiritual liberation of women is only achieved by escaping the restrictions of the body and rebuilding one's own world view, but this path is fraught with sorrow. This paper will examine the literary techniques employed by Han Kang and explore the general circumstances of East Asian women's writing.

Keywords

Triadic Dialectic of Space; The Vegetarian; Bodily Discipline; East Asian Women; Spiritual Breakthrough

References

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