BEYOND THE SELF: BETWEEN DISINTEGRATION AND BECOMING OF SUBJECTIVITY ON HAN KANG’S THE VEGETARIAN

Abstract

The paper develops an interdisciplinary approach to understanding of subjectivity in Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, a case study of a novel by the South Korean Nobel prize laureate. The major issues explored in the novel and in the article go far beyond the boundaries of individual psychology and extend to the very possibility of subjectivity in contemporary society. The Vegetarian is a multilayered palimpsest of meanings, cultural and symbolic layers that comprises feminist perspective, affect theory, critique of power structure, which form human personality, phenomenology of embodiment, posthumanistic concerns, etc. Such textual multivectorality and perspectivism give possibility to expand the interpretive field that includes approaches of literary, philosophical and scientific nature that shape as both a narrative of the progressive dissolution of a socially constructed self and an exploration of radical forms of subjectivity located beyond the usual structures governing human life. The article therefore raises the question of power configuration and how language, social practices, norms can define the personality and those factors and influences contributing to the internal destabilization, overload, and collapse of subjectivity.
The relevance of this article is determined by its critical reconsideration and deconstruction of conventional conceptualizations of who subject is and enables its conceptualization not merely within a socio-disciplinary framework, but also as a number of liminal processes that destabilize the established social binary of norm and deviation. Consequently, this raises the question of describing the subject, which is ambiguous and shows other perspectives of being. The scientific novelty of the study lies in introducing a specific analytical framework of dual ontology where subject is considered as a social-disciplinary product and open multiplicity that goes beyond fixed norms and roles. In this regard, the research introduces a novel understanding of quantum theory ideas that gives fruitful metaphorical framework which maximize the subject understanding from static unit to the dynamic system which collapses under the influence of observation and the environmental structures. It is assumed that a subject can exist in two modes: as a particle and as a wave. It is argued that society serves as a switching mechanism between various modes of existence and as a constant measurement device that shapes subject’s social profile.
The aim of this article is to describe a subject as a multiple, dynamic, elusive formation through the lens of socio-critical, existential, post-modern, apophatic, quantum perspective which enables a polyphonic interpretative space for understanding the protagonist’s transformations.
The methodological aspect of the study is interdisciplinary in nature that combines the poststructuralists analysis, philosophy of existence, as well as the metaphorical framework of quantum physics, including the notions of the quantum field, superposition, wave interference, wave-particle duality, and other quantum phenomenon.
Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that a subject in Han Kang’s novel Vegetarian is a complex, multidimensional formation with no stable essence or status. The protagonist is a constant transition between states where an ongoing struggle takes place between inner experience and external forces of normalization. Yeong-hye’s character raises one of the fundamental questions in contemporary thought: is it possible to remain a subject in a reality where the body, identity, and desire are constantly shaped and controlled be social institutions.