the
thesis seeks to examine the question of how the vegetal transformation acts as
a primary traumatic response in Han Kang’s The
Vegetarian and its embodied resistant possibility. Through the synthesis of
theoretical frameworks of Lacan’s psychoanalysis and Michael Marder’s plant philosophy,
the thesis analyzes and compares the different traumatic processing, therefore
consequences for the brother-in-law and Yeong-hye, in order to offer further insight
into a new model of plant-based trauma healing.
The thesis proposal should include
1. Introduction: include abstract and summary of the novel (10%)
2. Literature review: include the organized, thematic, critical review of the established critiques/scholarship of the novel, elaborating their key points, insights and downsides(35%)
3. Methodologies: include the thorough review of the established scholarship of trauma studies and plant studies; then justify the use of Lacan’s psychoanalysis and Michael Marder’s Plant Thinking as the best to analyze the novel (35%)
4. Chapter Design
The
first chapter provides a theoretical framework by reviewing trauma
theory and plant studies, while emphasizing the distinct contributions that
Michael Marder’s plant theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis can make to the
analysis of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.
Through the integration of Lacan’s concept of the Borromean knot, objet a,
trauma and fantasy, and Michael Marder’s highlight on plant-thinking as a
non-cognitive, non-representational mode of thinking, with the potential to act
as an alternative to traditional human-centric rationality and consciousness,
this chapter seeks to bridge the gap between these two disparate fields and proposes
a novel approach to understanding how plant philosophy could connect with
psychoanalysis and trauma theories.
The
second chapter delves into the brother-in-law’s grappling with the political
trauma of the May Massacre in Korea. Utilizing Lacanian concept of fantasy,
trauma, objet a, and the Borromean knot, this chapter examines the
brother-in-law’s obsession over Yeong-hye’s Mongolian mark, his fantasy of
vegetal sex and his distinct perception of Yeong-hye’s conversion into
vegetarianism, differing from the other family members. Through the mediation
of Yeong-hye’s role in the brother-in-law’s trauma processing, the chapter
explores the employment of Lacanian psychoanalysis in the particular
socio-political context, and the linkage between personal and political
traumatic experiences. This linkage further contrasts the brother-in-law’s
traumatic loop in the symbolic order permeated by the patriarchal violence, to
Yeong-hye’s vegetal transformation as an alternative response beyond
anthropocentric logo-centric order.
The
final chapter focuses on Yeong-hye’s process of vegetal fantasy and vegetal
transformation, through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Michael
Marder’s plant theory. This chapter probes into the trauma represented in her
fragmented dreams and memory, her rejection of meat, and most importantly, how
her embodiment of “plant thinking” echoes with Lacan’s sinthome, enabling her
to traverse the fantasy and consist of a unique mode of ethical resistance.
