Subversion Of Binary Oppositions In The Golden Notebook

Doris Lessing (1919-) is one of the most famous experimentalist writers. By 1997, she has written about 50 novels, which are all in great genres—realism, modernism, and postmodernism. (Wang Lili 1) And themes in her novels involve racism, sexism, political injustice, personal identity and women's liberation. She regards novel as a means of raising questions which will set the reader pondering on them, and these questions make her think about the form the novel should take. Lessing is remarkable for her bold experiment in form of writing, her deep insight into the contemporary social morals, and her wider range of subject matters.The Golden Notebook (1962) is Lessing's masterpiece and has been the focus of the critical circle since its publication in 1962, being admired for its formal and thematic complexity. Because of the vivid description of female consciousness and difficult living condition, it becomes the must-read book for feminists and ranks with the masterpiece Le Deuxieme Sexe by Simone de Beauvoir. Actually, the theme of The Golden Notebook is far more than the feminist liberation. The book shows us the social life in the middle of 20^th century through Anna's observation and thoughts about the surroundings, and makes an exploration on the relationship between man and society, men and women and the value of artistic creation. There are lots of binary oppositions in the novel such as "Bound. Free. Good. Bad. Yes. No. Capitalism. Socialism. Sex. Love…" . (Lessing x) The author tries to classify these oppositions and makes a research, and realizes that through the subversion of these oppositions Lessing completes the exploration on those three aspects and tells us how people keep wholeness in the world, figures out the way towards the harmony between men and women, and exposes the value of the artistic creation. And Lessing's view on these three questions can be clearly stated through absolutely subverting binary oppositions between the insanity and the rationality, the male and the female, and the fiction and the reality. That's why the author chooses these three binary oppositions to state ideas. The author hopes that this paper can provide a new angle to reread the masterpiece of this remarkable female writer which will help us understand Lessing's views on life and value, and hopes that the study will be helpful for the future research of The Golden Notebook.Chapter one subverts the binary opposition between male and female. It starts with the discussion on negative effects of phallicism. Lessing explores the female material and spiritual situation from Anna's visual angle with the penetrating insight, and exposes that the root of female bitterness comes from the oppression and limitation of the phallocentric culture on women. The same as heroines in the novel, male characters such as Tommy, Richard, Nelson, and Saul, they all lead a hard life not only physically but spiritually. Lessing states clearly that not only women but men are victims of phallocentric culture either. At the end of the novel, Anna and Saul walk out of the dilemma together by helping each other, and Anna dreams that she becomes a male-female figure. It tells us living in the society full of conflicts and oppositions, the human relationship, especially between men and women, should not be antagonistic and bitter. Neither feminism nor patriarchal system is the solution. They should understand and support each other. That's the only way to avoid being trapped in loneliness, dread and chaos. And that's the only way towards the realization of wholeness of man. So the political meaning of female writing lies in her subverting the phallocentric culture through the text creating. Thus, analyzing the way in which Lessing constructs the text for oppugning the male-female binary opposition system becomes one of the important aims of this paper. In The Golden Notebook, Lessing uses the first-person and third-person visual angle together, the meta-fiction structure, open ending and irrational language, breaking the traditional single angle, rational plot and linear structure of the patriarchal text, in order to write the female experience, subvert the objective and the otherness position of the female, and establish female subjective position, making them become the real experience subject, thinking subject and narrative subject. So far, the "aphasia" of the female has been ended in the man-woman binary opposite system. We can see The Golden Notebook is Lessing's good exploration on female text creation.Chapter two raises a question on how man keeps composmentis in a breakdown society. For further subverting the binary opposition between men and women, Lessing doubts the opposite relation between rationality and insanity in the patriarchal system. In the traditional patriarchal system, the relationship between rationality and insanity is like the one between right and wrong. Rationality has been regarded as the law of God. Actually, the word is irrational and in disorder; desperation and insanity are omnipresent. In order to keep the so-called order, rationality becomes the cause of insanity. Under Lessing's pen, Anna undergoes the crisis on political belief, the writing block and the emotional dilemma. The paper analyzes how the rationality leads Anna to go to insanity gradually. However, insanity is not the demon, but like the silkworm cocoon which is the essential condition and the only path towards rationality. And it is in the process of approaching insanity and struggling that Anna gets the insight—Man must accept insanity in order to get the wholeness of personality. Finally, Anna faces the reality courageously and accepts insanity with positive attitude. And because of it, she recovers and writes the golden diary and Free Women. Insanity is the way towards rationality. In this way, Lessing subverts the binary opposition between rationality and insanity. And its relationship between rationality and insanity is no longer the hierarchical but indivisible circular.Chapter three dwells on her idea of the subversion of the binary opposition between fiction and reality. Traditionally, especially in the phallocentric culture, reality is always regarded superior to fiction. Fiction is just the reflection of the reality. In The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing absolutely subverts this binary opposition. The traditional novel Free Women and four diaries correspond to the fiction and the reality. Through the comparison between the traditional novel Free Women and Anna's diaries which record Anna's life in detail, readers may easily realize that fiction is not the reappearance of the reality, but has the significance for its existence. So does the function of the comparison between Frontiers of War and the black diary, The Shadow of the Third and the yellow diary. Secondly, chapter three further testifies the self-sufficient reality of the fiction through the analysis of dreams and its relation with reality. The relation between fiction and reality is no longer binary opposition. No one is superior to the other. Under Lessing's pen, the fancy world seems more real than what man sees during the day. We can see the true part of Anna through dreams. And dreams can explain one's whole life and predict our future. It is no longer inferior to reality, but the direct way towards truth. Lessing gives the work Free Women to characters in the story, and withdraws behind the curtain. In this way, she breaks the binary opposition completely. And readers find no way to distinguish the reality and the fiction.From the perspective of subverting binary oppositions, deconstructive reading of The Golden Notebook not only helps us comprehend the text thoroughly but dig up the deep meaning of Doris Lessing's creation. The subversion of binary oppositions shows Lessing's deconstructive consciousness while creating the novel. And with the deconstructive consciousness Lessing clears up the centre of traditional values which limit human beings. The subversion of the centre not only shows Doris Lessing's postmodern thoughts but her quest for freedom. But more than most writers concern with the emancipated women in the complex modern world, Lessing clearly advocates a personal commitment on the part of the individual which will enable that individual to relate meaningfully to others and to the world. She tells us how people keep wholeness in the world, figures out the way towards real freedom for both men and women, and shows us an artist passion for artistic creation. She is a real cosmopolite, in favor of open and all-embracing postmodern thoughts. Doris Lessing is not only the best woman novelist we have, but one of the most serious, intelligent and honest writers of the whole post-war generation.