Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies
Vol 6, No 3 (2022): Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistics Studies (October

Radical Act and Political Withdrawal in Han Kang’s The Vegetarian

Sulistya Ningtyas (Universitas Diponegoro)



Article Info

Publish Date
17 Oct 2022

Abstract

The multi-interpreted narrative of Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian is developed on an allegory. In this study, the allegory is seen as the meaning of freedom where the subject chooses to resist social intervention through the radical Act and political withdrawal — two main practices of action in the Žižek study. This study aims to examine the practices of action demonstrated by the protagonist that resulted from her childhood trauma. By applying Žižek’s theory of radical politics, the results of the study revealed the radical Act of being a vegetarian taken by the main character as her criticism of the violent environment. Further, the subject’s political withdrawal from living as a normal human indicates that she has gone beyond the radical Act. Even though the subject collapses in her effort to transform to become a tree, her courage to start taking this action in the first place confirms that she has value as an authentic subject.Keywords: vegetarian; trauma; Žižek study; radical Act; political withdrawal; The Vegetarian 

Copyrights © 2022






Journal Info

Abbrev

culturalistics

Publisher

Subject

Humanities

Description

Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies is a peer-reviewed triannual scientific journal published by Department of Linguistics, Diponegoro University, Indonesia. It publishes articles in the field of cultural, literary, and linguistic ...