@article{ART003178258},
author={So-lim Lee},
title={A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2025},
volume={74},
pages={139-166},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139}
TY - JOUR
AU - So-lim Lee
TI - A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2025
VL - 74
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 139
EP - 166
SN - 1598-0685
AB - This study examined the growth and existential mode of Tereza, a female protagonist of Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’, focusing on Julia Kristeva's theory of the subject and Oedipal aspects. Kristeva's choric subject refers to a self that grows in its own way by dynamically moving between semiotic and symbolic orders, thereby undermining rigid boundaries between them. In this context, this paper viewed the chora semiotic as subverting the Oedipus complex as a rite of passage in the conventional normative discourse of growth. It examined this phenomenon via Kundera's female protagonist.
Tereza emerged in the early part of the novel as a character who enacted the Oedipus complex. She respected her father's world and tried to enter it via books. The book played a bridging role in her meeting with her lover, Tomáš, who once served as a substitute for her father. However, Tereza was despaired by Tomáš's infidelity and ultimately failed to overcome the Oedipal phase. She regressed to oral and anal stages in the Freudian theory, but ultimately experienced this situation as a retreat that facilitated new growth. Not only these struggles, but also diverse events arising from the Prague Revolution occurred to Tereza. She overcame them in ways that could be interpreted as enactments of the chora semiotic, ultimately finding answers to her existence within the Idylle of music and nature.
KW - Tereza;chora semiotic;the Oedipus complex;Prague Spring;the great nature
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
ER -
So-lim Lee. (2025). A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic. Cross-Cultural Studies, 74, 139-166.
So-lim Lee. 2025, "A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.74, pp.139-166. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee "A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic" Cross-Cultural Studies 74 pp.139-166 (2025) : 139.
So-lim Lee. A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic. 2025; 74 139-166. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee. "A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic" Cross-Cultural Studies 74(2025) : 139-166.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee. A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic. Cross-Cultural Studies, 74, 139-166. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee. A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2025; 74 139-166. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee. A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic. 2025; 74 139-166. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
So-lim Lee. "A study of Tereza, a female protagonist in Milan Kundera's ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’: Variations on the Oedipus Complex and the Chora Semiotic" Cross-Cultural Studies 74(2025) : 139-166.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2025.74..139
