The (Non-)Metaphor of Love: On Eileen Chang’s “Lust, Caution”
Resource
中外文學, 40(2), 137-195
Journal
中外文學
Journal Volume
40
Journal Issue
2
Pages
137-195
Date Issued
2011-06
Date
2011-06
Author(s)
Lin, C.N.
Abstract
What is Lacan’s concept of metaphor of love addressed in his eighth seminar Transference? In other words, how is love structured as a metaphor via the condensation of signifiers? How does Eileen Chang present the (non-)metaphor of love in the short story “Lust, Caution” (Se, Jie)? The first part addresses that Lacan’s theory of love (in the eighth seminar) encompasses the myth of love, the metaphor of love, and the impossible gift of love, agalma. Viewed within Lacan’s overall theory, the myth of love reverberates with the later proposition that “il n’y a pas de rapport sexual”; the metaphor of love is related to the paternal metaphor and the birth of the subject; and agalma not merely plays a role in transference but serves as a theoretical model for the later objet petit a. Second, a detailed textual analysis of Chang’s “Lust, Caution” reveals the ring as the agalma in fantasy as well as the key to the metaphor of love. Finally, the paper makes the case that the failure of metaphor of love in “Lust, Caution” results from an incomplete and deferred act of naming, that is, the failed substitution of the lost hymen by the ring. Chang’s writing presents a mixed style of yuan yan hu die pai novels (the traditional Chinese popular romance) that revolve around the birth of metaphor of love, as well as a subversive expos? of the non-metaphor of love that undermines Lacan’s theory of metaphor.
Subjects
張愛玲，〈色，戒〉，拉岡，《傳會》，愛情隱喻，祕寶
Eileen Chang, “Lust, Caution,” Jacques Lacan, Transference, metaphor of love, agalma
Type
journal article