Abstract

This study is aimed to figure out the method of feminine subjection described in Han Gang’s novels in relationship withmelancholia. For this, the following novels were investigated; ‘The Fruit of My Lady (1997),’ ‘Her Cold Hands (2002)’ and ‘Vegetarian (2007).’ In particular, it has attempted to examine the subjection mechanism through the narrative meaning of female characters in these novels (Yeong-hye, L, E and In-hye). First, this study has analyzed how the feminine subjection was correlated with seismic violence through ‘the Fruit of My Lady’ which was the matrix of ‘Vegetarian (2007).’ This novel described that pain and affliction which a woman couldn’t recognize on her own were formed in the relationship with seismic violence. Specifically, the author understood that it was correlated with paradoxical obedience which was formed in the process of acceptance and rejection or subjection. This kind of concept was also the basis in ‘Her Cold Hands’ and ‘Vegetarian.’ It was explained that characters were the base to form a melancholic subject. Then, this study has figured out how the melancholic pattern of a feminine subject in ‘Her Cold Hands’ and ‘Vegetarian’ was expressed. First, how binge eating, vegetable eating and anorexic eating were correlated with the self-punishment pattern of the melancholic subject was investigated. In addition, the meaning of the feminine subject as a narratee, which was found in all these novels, was analyzed. Furthermore, how the method of existence as a female subject which wasn’t authorized to speak was expressed as the strategy of masquerade was investigated. Through these discussions, Han Gang’s novels have revealed the typical pattern of feminine subjection because the pattern of melancholic subject handled in this study is not just a pathological symptom but the mechanism of self-subjection that a woman forms her identity in relationship with ruling ideology.