이야기의 수용자로서 알론소 키하노: 주체와 정체성 형성 과정에 대한 우화로서 『돈키호테』 읽기

Abstract

This article's basic premise is viewing the narrative of Don Quixote as a process of the reconfiguration regarding Alonso Quijano's identity. He is deemed an avid reader of Chivalric novels even after leaving home as he constantly conceives and describes the deeds of Chivalric heroes. This study intends to further elaborate on the meaning of Don Quixote's narrative structure by centering on identity formation, which is consisted of three different moments of mimesis, proposed by Paul Ricoeur. Among the three stages of mimesis described in the novel, it especially focuses on the third mimesis where the readers can actively participate in the process of reconfiguration of the characters' identity. Don Quixote's main protagonist, Alonso Quijano is an extraordinary reader who identifies with the Chivalric novels' heroes in a surprisingly easy and eager manner that he pursues to become a real Chivalric hero. This process displayed by Alonso Quijano can be supported by Jacques Lacan's Mirror Stage theory which contends that the Ego is the product of misunderstanding. Lacan proposes during the formation of an Ideal Ego, symbolic identification of other's desire and estimation. Ego Ideal, can impact the Ideal Ego. Thus, this explains Don Quixote's philanthropic acts in many of his adventures. In the reconfiguration of Don Quixote's identity as a reader of Chivalric novels, Alonso Quijano's quality, as "el bueno" in his village, is intermingled. Therefore, the narrative of Don Quixote is no more than a process of dialectic negotiation and reconfiguration of a reader such as Alonso Quijano.