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Princess mermaid and Amazons, between them

Feminism and Korean Literature / Feminism and Korean Literature, (P)1229-4632; (E)2733-5925
2001, v.0 no.5, pp.31-52

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Abstract

Even when the restoration of body is emphasized under the banner of resistance to the modern logocentrism which have regarded the body as inferior to mind, female body is not treated in itself. From one extreme point of view, it is idealized as the solution to all the problems and from the other, it is depreciated as the cathartic place of the instincts like animal. Therefore, female body is often hurt. Women become sexual objective-being by having legs newly. Just then, they are to lose their voice through which they can find and tell themselves. On the other hand, women weaken maternity and strengthen humanity by removing their right breasts. So we can say that princess mermaid shows the obedient extreme and Amazons, the resistant extreme. Princess mermaid has the body which symbolizes an obedience with the "attachment" of legs, and Amazons, the body which represents an resistance with the "hurt" of breast. In addition, between legs and breast exists the oedipal omphalos, the trace of bruise derived from the umbilical cord. Man's body are also incomplete because he has the navel which is brought to forth by the separation from mother's body. It is the politics of body which is inferred from the female body seen by female writer(「Chinese street」 by Oh Jeong-Hee), from the male body stated by female writer(「the origin of man」 by Jeon Kyeong-Rin), and from the female body gazed by male writer(「scarlet letter」 by Lee Yun-Gee).

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Feminism and Korean Literature