The Ghost in Paradise : The Anatomy of the Nervousness Discourse in This Side of Paradise
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概要
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This paper attempts to tackle the protagonist Amory's issues of male anxiety and male hysteria in This Side of Paradise around the time of World War I. It draws on Judith Butler's interpretation of Freudian theory, especially of the discussion of mourning/melancholy. Then, it problematizes the latent problem of homosexuality in the formation of male heterosexual identity, which is another form of universalizing ideology. Interpreted this way, Amory's anxiety over his masculinity and homosexual desire can be revealed through his neurasthenia, male hysteria, making his encounters with women the source of his nervousness. Amory's "natural" incessant quests for and ambivalence toward women can be regarded as a sign of the oscillation of his masculinity and repression of his homosexual desire. The "faults" of this novel such as inconsistency and lack of culmination are indispensable in contributing to representing Amory's unstable mentality.
- 2011-03-31