초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Traveling is a crossing of cultural boundaries and this action brings new imagination to the writers, driving them to engage in writing with new ideas. Traveling is inseparable from transcultural writing, which crosses cultural borders. The Red Queen, written by Margaret Drabble, who is considered to be one of Britain’s most representative contemporary authors, is a transcultural travel literature and can be seen as a product of travel. Drabble’s The Red Queen is a postmodern travel literature with a subtitle of ‘transcultural tragicomedy,’ which reveals the conflicts and commonalities of the two cultures experienced by the writer. Drabble is fascinated by Han Joong Nok, the incredible text of Lady Hong from 18th century Korea, whose metafictional ghost is very self-conscious about her own writing. And Drabble writes a multicultural postmodern travel literature based on Lady Hong's text with limitations of representation. In this study I analyze The Red Queen as travel literature, exploring the theory of ‘the fundamental fictionality of all representation’ and ‘the violence of homogenization’ revealed in her postmodern writing. The Red Queen exposes the inherent problems of representation which travelers, who view other cultures on the other side of the world, have. The unique cultural identity of travelers is deep-rooted and subjective; and it discloses inevitable limitations of representation when travelers write about other cultures even if they try to understand them. I trace how Drabble reveals ‘the fundamental fictionality of all representation,’ while rewriting Han Joong Nok through the eyes of Barbara Halliwell as a traveler and a modern English woman who deeply recognizes the mission of Lady Hong’s messenger. Also, I explore how Drabble makes an effort to overcome the limits of representation. The process of overcoming such limitations is revealed through an attempt to find commonality between Barbara Halliwell and Lady Hong. However, it is possible to find ‘the violence of homogenization’ which eliminates the difference in the process of seeking commonalities between individuals and cultures. I examine how Drabble explores the limitations and meanings of seeking cultural homogeneity, while trying to recognize cultural differences in her multicultural postmodern travel writing.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Margaret Drabble, The Red Queen, travel literature, writing, representation, violence of homogenization, difference
