『어둠의 심연』(Heart of Darkness)에 재현된 상징과 실재의 갈등

The Conflict between the Symbolic and the Real Represented in Heart of Darkness .

This study aims to explore the textual unconscious at work beneath the surface of Heart of Darkness using Lacanian psychoanalysis. To accomplish this, it firstly analyzes how the fantasy of imperial ideology functions to cover up the lack in the symbolic Other of 19th century Europeans. The fantasy of racism in which colonial blacks are considered as non-humans or sub-humans is the most effective device to conceal the inconsistency and irrationality of European colonialism. Secondly, it discusses in what way encounters with the real affect the psychological lives of individual subjects, by tracing the journeys of Marlow and Kurtz in the Congo. Through his journey, Marlow gains a new mode of subjectivity with which he can embrace the real within himself without being overwhelmed by it. On the other hand, Kurtz is thoroughly destroyed morally and physically by enjoying jouissance excessively, ignoring the warnings of the symbolic order. By understanding the conflict between the symbolic and the real ongoing in the social unconscious as well as in the individual unconscious, we can live down its disgrace as imperialist literature and deem it a brilliant guide for a deep journey into the human mind.