The representation of the subject/object/abject in Gulliver's Travels

• Main Author: 吳保漢
• Other Authors: 單德興
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39674470887038203771

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 英國語文學研究所 === 97 === This thesis investigates the representation of the subject/object/abject in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Chapter One, I give a short introduction to describe what and why I want to talk about these representations in this thesis. Following the introductory chapter, Chapter Two explores the representation of the subject and provides a prominent example of Gulliver’s urinating act in Lilliput. This behavior not only constructs Gulliver’s subjectivity, but also helps examine the idea of home. Kristeva’s idea of “the Semiotic and the Symbolic” and Freud’s concept of “fort-da” game are adopted to discuss the dynamics of travel and Gulliver’s traveling subject. Chapter Three examines the way to decode and encode what the strangers speak in alien lands. To address the problem of the linguistic system of the strangers, Kristeva’s idea of “materiality of language” is elucidated. I also offer two examples from the Flappers and the Yahoos to call into question Gulliver’s role as a speaking subject. Foucault’s idea of power and Kristeva’s concept of “genotext” provide a possibility to discuss the relation between the subject and the discourse. In Chapter Four, the representation of the abject is particularly presented by Gulliver’s voyage in the Houyhnhnm-land. The presence of the Yahoos elicits Gulliver’s psychological symptom and problematizes his subject. Moreover, Gulliver’s return to his homeland and his acting-outs suggest that Gulliver is a stranger to himself. Kristeva’s theory of abject offers an effective way to describe Gulliver’s transformation. By focusing on the representation of the subject/object/abject in Gulliver’s Travels, my thesis provides a more newfangled interpretation of this classical text.