A Psychoanalytical Interpretation of Ying-ying’s Contradiction
This study investigates Yuan Zhen’s “The Story of Ying-ying” (“Yingying Zhuan”) by means of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. From a psychoanalytic perspective, Ying ying faces internal struggles between the ego and the id caused by her superego-this leads to her inconsistent behaviours. This contradi...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/84040 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41515 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | This study investigates Yuan Zhen’s “The Story of Ying-ying” (“Yingying Zhuan”) by means of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. From a psychoanalytic perspective, Ying ying faces internal struggles between the ego and the id caused by her superego-this leads to her inconsistent behaviours. This contradiction encapsulates how any reasonable person would have felt, thus having an epoch-marking significance. Poems composed based on their love affair also reveal the social role of scholars under the reality principle, the underlying basis for the desertion of Ying-ying. Interpretation of the story using a combination of tale and poetry expands the Tang literati discourse on Ying-ying’s contradictory behaviours. |
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