Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2019)

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Lacan's Mirror and the Mirror Metaphor in Herta Müller's Novel One-Legged Traveler

Authors
Lu Xiang
Corresponding Author
Lu Xiang
Available Online December 2019.
DOI
10.2991/sschd-19.2019.10How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Mirror theory, Mirror motif, Identity metaphor, Self-identification; Herta Mülle, Lacan.
Abstract

Mirrors are often used as metaphors for identity confirmation in literary works. Identity issues are more classic motifs in immigrant novels. As the German immigrant writer Herta Müller, who won the Nobel Prize 2009, in her immigration novel One-legged Traveler, she used the mirror motif to metaphorize the heroine's self-identity in the life of immigrants after her immigration - It is not a journey of love-seeking on the plot, or a journey of immigration, but a journey of searching for self-identity. Mirroring, as the way she confirms herself, carries the metaphorical role of the self-recognition in the new country, and the tools of the self-identification. How to treat mirroring as a metaphor for identity? Lacan gave rationality to this metaphor mechanism by proposing "mirror theory" as early as 1936. It is also the basis for understanding Lacan's subject philosophy. Mirrors have become self-identifying natural symbols since Lacan. The encounter between psychoanalysis and literature, Lacan's mirror theory and the intertextuality of mirror motifs in literature can be confirmed and deepened in the interpretation of the mirror motif of Müller's One-legged Traveler.

Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2019)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
December 2019
ISBN
978-94-6252-859-8
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/sschd-19.2019.10How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lu Xiang
PY  - 2019/12
DA  - 2019/12
TI  - Lacan's Mirror and the Mirror Metaphor in Herta Müller's Novel One-Legged Traveler
BT  - Proceedings of the 5th Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 675
EP  - 681
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/sschd-19.2019.10
DO  - 10.2991/sschd-19.2019.10
ID  - Xiang2019/12
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