20세기 교양소설로 『무지개』와 『연애하는 여인들』읽기: 어슐라의 자아의 완성을 중심으로

Abstract

Lawrence's concept of self and being mainly focus on the realization not only of one's full being as male or female but of the true selfhood of both genders. Nevertheless, his bisexualism focused on dichotomies such as maleness/femaleness, spirit /body, wilWsensuality and lovellaw has evoked adverse criticisms hitherto. Especially radical feminists have regarded him as an essential sexist and male chauvinist considering his theory to be mainly focused on the 'gender difference,' allowing male dominance and female subordination. Reading his novels carefully, however, readers can acknowledge that Lawrence's Bisexualism can be seen not merely as an appeal for the fixed gender roles in patriarchal society but rather as an active participation into a deep "selfrealization". In this perspectives, the heroine of The Rainbow and Women in Love, Ursula can be reilluminated. She takes the active and pivotal roles in these two novels. She materializes the advanced woman character who breaks off the parental, communal and even national ties to be awaken as a real "living self" into the new realm of consciousness. These series of Bildung process of Ursula can be read as the 20th-century Bildungsroman. While classical Bildungsroman intends to the process for individuals to identify and embody moral values of the ruling class, 20C Bildungromn cannot accept this kind of narrative which ensures individual's integrity inside of the social mechanism. Rather in the 20th-century Bildungsroman, the contradictions and tensions between individuals and society are fore-grounded and the reconcilement between the two is pursued more openly and overtly. Therefore, reading The Rainbow and Women in Love as 20th-century Bildungsmman focused mainly on Ursula's Bildung process is worthwhile, since Lawrentian self-realization and "fullness of being" assume the annulment of conventional norms of society. Nevertheless, they do not repel the possibility of unity between individuals and society at all, in that Lawrentian self always emphasizes the mutual understanding and correspondence between self and the others. In this prospective, this paper investigates how profoundly these ideas are materialized and quested by Ursula's Bildung in The Rainbow and Women in Love.