From the Imaginary in Lacan to the Material in Malabou: The Gaze as the Catalyst in Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

The present paper intends to closely explore Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (۱۹۸۵) in terms of Catherine Malabou’s concepts of the material in alterity without transcendence, plasticity, and trans-subjectivation. The significance of the other in the process of identity formation would be illustrated in the novel, and the other as Catherine Malabou’s notion of alterity without transcendence would be lime lighted as the other in the self in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Unlike Jacques Lacan, Malabou believes that ‘the material’ plays a substantial role in the notion of the other. The attempt would be spotlighting the gaze as both the producer and product of the other which triggers the mutability of identity. In other words, the process by which the main character identifies herself as a subject would be argued. Moreover, desiring the other or craving for the desire per se would be expounded as the process toward trans-subjectivation. Due to the intrinsic plasticity of love, lust, gender, body, and femininity, Jeanette is able to transform her destructive plasticity into inconsistent trans-subjectivation. That is to say, the present study would attempt to express the materiality of identity formation in Jeanette through the lens of Catherine Malabou while it endeavors to present the way Jacque Lacan’s triad lacks the materiality. Key Words: Alterity without Transcendence, Destructive Plasticity, The Material, Plasticity, Trans-Subjectivation.

کلیدواژه ها:

Alterity without Transcendence ، Destructive Plasticity ، the material ، Plasticity ، Trans-subjectivation