The Good Wife? Sibling Species in Han Kang's the Vegetarian
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This is a repository copy of The Good Wife? Sibling Species in Han Kang's The Vegetarian. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/126088/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Stobie, CE orcid.org/0000-0001-9376-8833 (2017) The Good Wife? Sibling Species in Han Kang's The Vegetarian. ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 24 (4). pp. 787-802. ISSN 1076-0962 https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isx073 (c) 2018, The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Manuscripts submitted to ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment The Good Wife? Sibling Species in Han Kang‘s The Vegetarian Journal:For ISLE: Peer Interdisciplinary Review Studies in Literature and Environment Manuscript ID Draft Manuscript Type: Scholarly Article posthumanism, veganism, animal studies, postcolonial literature, Keywords: intersectionality http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isle Page 1 of 21 Manuscripts submitted to ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 1 2 3 The Good Wife? Sibling Species in Han Kang‘s The Vegetarian 4 5 6 7 In her influential text When Species Meet, Donna J. Haraway asserts that —[s]ex, infection and 8 9 10 eating are old relatives […] whose material and syntactic intra actions make the cuts that 11 12 birth kin and kind# (287( my italics). Evoking Jac,ues Derrida, Haraway moves from this 13 14 crucible of kinship to suggest that human and nonhuman animals should eat and kill .well/( 15 16 that is, they should be mindful and respectful of the origins of their food, whether this is a 17 18 For Peer Review 19 plant based meal or a piece of meat (201). However, it is dubious whether vegans and 20 21 omnivores can tolerantly co exist when both positions are situated in ambiguous ethical 22 23 terrains( veganism is often stereotyped as inherently classist or racist, and sexism is also rife 24 25 in the animal rights movement.1 2he recent translation and popularity of The Vegetarian is a 26 27 prescient example of ethical eating/s controversial positioning in modern society. Described 28 29 30 by its author as a —[t]rilogy or triptych, which consists of three independent novellas# (3. Han 31 32 ,td. in Patrick 21), the novel epitomises an experimental sense of dis5ointedness6 its opening 33 34 segment is narrated in the first person by the titular character/s husband, the second section is 35 36 third person narration focalised through her brother in law (an artist who indulges in sexual 37 38 39 fantasies about her), and the third segment is third person narration focalised through her 40 41 sister In hye as she tries to convince the protagonist to eat. In an early narrative interruption, 42 43 7eong hye describes the dream which prompts her decision to stop eating meat, eggs, and 44 45 dairy products6 a vision of a —pool of blood in [a] barn […] [and a] face reflected there# (ch. 46 47 1( original italics). 2his is an image which I will return to repeatedly, as it motivates much of 48 49 50 the development in plot and her .infectious/ ideological position. Some may dismiss 7eong 51 52 hye/s dietary choices due to her gradual lapse into anorexia, arguing that one cannot 53 54 ob5ectively classify an individual/s ethics if they are mentally ill. I take issue with this 55 56 position because it privileges the very same carnophallogocentric rhetoric that regulates 57 58 59 60 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isle 1 Manuscripts submitted to ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment Page 2 of 21 1 2 3 women/s bodies62 namely, that one should aim to achieve —absolute purity, 4 5 hyperintellectuality, and transcendence of the [feminised, sexualised] flesh# (9ordo 148), 6 7 without considering the complexities and .messiness/ of sub5ective experience. 8 9 10 At surface level, the logical conclusion of critical animal theory may seem to be the 11 12 development of a more tolerant, egalitarian society which is open to exchanges between 13 14 cultures, races, genders and species. However, a careful analysis of vegetarian movements 15 16 and their terms reveals that an interest in animal ethics does not necessarily allow one to feel 17 18 For Peer Review 19 a common purpose with other humans. Firstly, the Oxford English Dictionary records that 20 21 .vegetarian/ was used by 9ritish and American writers to ambiguously refer to —[a] member 22 23 of a Chinese religious sect which en5oins lifelong abstinence from meat# (def. 2). Although 24 25 this definition (of what is most likely 9uddhism) is rarely used in contemporary contexts, its 26 27 emphasis on uninvestigated .foreign/ practices shows how perceived distinctions between 28 29 30 Eastern and Western cultures ? and their attitudes towards nonhuman animals ? complicate 31 32 the supposedly tolerant purpose of ethical eating. Orientalism has also informed the Western 33 34 construction of vegetarianism in order to promote certain ideologies. Writing in the 35 36 eighteenth century, Irish novelist Oliver Aoldsmith adopts the voice of a fictional Chinese 37 38 39 man named Lien Chi Altangi to criticise English carnist eating practices (11). His ironic 40 41 exoticisation of ordinarily normalised dining habits may be intended to advance the rights of 42 43 animals, but it is saturated with Comantic primitivism( the writer imagines that the typical 44 45 Chinese palate is too —simple# to conceive of the —ingenious refinement# of slaughter (12). 46 47 Dore recently, Westerners tend to imbue those from the East Asian cultural sphere with a 48 49 50 mystical sense of organic unity. Some incorrectly believe that Oriental dishes are mostly 51 52 vegetarian, but the diet is actually fairly uncommon in the Sinosphere. 9y way of illustration, 53 54 while it is estimated that there are at least 20 000 vegetarians in South 3orea (9. 3im 12), the 55 56 diet is normally only associated with 9uddhist monks,3 and many traditional dishes contain 57 58 59 60 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isle 2 Page 3 of 21 Manuscripts submitted to ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 1 2 3 meat based broth or other animal derivatives. Simultaneously, animal welfarists may be 4 5 incensed over the 3orean dog meat trade, but continue to eat supposedly .uncharismatic/ 6 7 animals like pigs and cows. 2hese facts highlight complex interactions between traditional 8 9 10 norms and modern ethical models in South 3orean society. It seems evident, therefore, that 11 12 there is a paradoxical co existence of different ethical terrains within animal rights 13 14 movements, posthumanism, and critical animal theory ? particularly in light of postcolonial 15 16 studies. 2hat which is culturally permissible is rendered acceptable, whereas the foreign 17 18 For Peer Review 19 practices of .others/ are treated with suspicion ? even if their rituals and beliefs are actually 20 21 motivated by the same moral imperative. 22 23 A related issue with vegan activism is that it risks e,uating empathy or caring with 24 25 .women/s work/. While many celebrated theorists working within animal studies are men, 26 27 most campaigns situated outside of the academe are dominated by women.4 Furthermore, 28 29 30 animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical 2reatment of Animals (PE2A) are 31 32 regularly criticised for their decisions to use nude female bodies in their (often violent or 33 34 sexualised) advertisements.5 Women ? who are already the targets of social expectations, 35 36 such as the supposedly feminine desire to bear or raise children ? are therefore cast as natural 37 38 39 empaths who are in tune with .Dother Nature/. Simultaneously, as veganism grows in 40 41 popularity, some products are being rebranded and marketed towards male vegans or 42 43 —hegans# who wish to partake in the movement without losing their perceived masculinity 44 45 (Pierce 3). Even well intentioned critics may unintentionally propagate gender essentialist 46 47 notions when promoting veganism. In his essay —Contextual Doral Iegetarianism,# Dean 48 49 50 Curtin rightly argues for —an ecofeminist ethic of care […] [which] recognises that the 51 52 reasons for moral vegetarianism may differ by locale, by gender, as well as by class# (241). 53 54 However, he then raises the dubious comparison of the consumption of eggs and dairy to 55 56 —exploit[ing] the reproductive capacities of the [human] female,# thereby arguing that —[f]rom 57 58 59 60 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/isle 3 Manuscripts submitted to ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment Page 4 of 21 1 2 3 a woman/s perspective, in particular, it makes sense to ask whether one should become a 4 5 vegan# (244).