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A study on symptoms of Choi, In-hun’s novel 「A day in the life of Novelist Gubo」: Writing as sinthome

MOUNGWON JEONG 1,  Gangrok Lee 2

1배재대학교
2우송대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

「A day in the life of Novelist Gubo」 is a novel about the stream of consciousness experienced by the main character, Gubo, in his daily life. In the case of Gubo, the stream of consciousness that originated from small thoughts and fantasies was abnormal because it led to illusions. After analyzing the images of the illusion experienced by Gubo, it is evident that they are symptoms of paranoia stemming from anxieties derived from unfulfilled lowest level of desire for safety. The upheaval in social systems, fear of war, family disorganization and the loss of his hometown that recurred during Gubo’s childhood. Another factor could be the failure of solidarity. The study focuses on how Gubo, who suffers symptoms of paranoia, maintains a social relationship with the people around him as well as living an ordinary life to find strategies for this problematic subject to lead an ordinary life. The strategies by which Gubo, the problematic subject, can lead an ordinary life through fantasies and illusions can be described as the most important strategy. These fantasies and illusions can serve as an excellent painkiller to overcome the pain from realism anxiety, however it drifts the subject into a world of symbolic reality. Although the writing based on fantasies is a symptom of paranoia, in its structurized aspect, the transference effect in accordance to the subject’s structured symptom plays the role of an anchor to the floating Gubo in symbolic system. In other words, Kubo is able to settle in the symbolic world by identifying this ‘symptom of writing’, sinthome, to himself. In the end, writing is the most important strategy for the problematic subject, Gubo, to manage to live an ordinary life. This strategy is the generative principle of metafiction.

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