The Impossibility Of The Retrieval Of Father: The Psychoanalytical And Feminist Reading Of England, England

England, England, published in1998, is a novel by Julian Barnes, the winner ofManner Booker Prize of2011. Julian Barnes creates the heroine Martha Cochrane, abandonedby her father, pursues her identity in her life and occupation. As a triplicate novel, the story isnarrated in the chronological order with two clues. With the hurt of abandonment from father,Martha is in the confusion about self-identity. When she goes into a relationship, she suffers alot; when she finds a job, the hurt also influences her so much.“Who I am” is the problemthat Martha has to solve. The parallel figure is Sir Jack Pitman, a person who wants toreconstruct England, especially the past glory of England. His efforts are exhibited in theproject “England, England”, a theme park which is the replicas of England. In order to carryout the project, he employs many people, and Martha Cochrane is one of them; she will be theconsultant of the project. Martha Cochrane wants to solve the problem “who I am?”；Sir JackPitman tries to solve the problem “What is England?”. These two clues push forward thewhole story. Through the whole novel, the writer narrates the sufferings of the heroine Marthaand her pursuing of her self-identity and Sir Jack Pitman’s failure in construction of the themepark of “England, England”.Critics abroad researched this novel from the perspective of the theme. A few critics paidattention to the narrative strategy, but pointed out it was a common work, while the thematicreading is meaningful for the further study. The novel explores the elusiveness of truth, thevagaries of love, the construction of history, the relationship between reality and fiction. Theresearch of this novel at home is not so hot until now. Just one article “Historical Reflectionsand Identity Search: A Thematic Reading of ‘England, England’” is the study of this novel.The writer Luo Yuan employs the simulacrum theory to explore the theme of this novel.This thesis, in accordance with Lacan’s theory, attempts to explore why Martha Cochranecan not find her self identity. The theoretical foundations include Lacan’s Mirror Stage, theImaginary Order, the Symbolic Order,“the Other”, castration and phallus and feminism. Theaim of this thesis is the probe into the arduous journey for Martha Cochrane to identify herself,but because of lack of father (the Law of father), Martha Cochrane can not find herself-identity. The thesis concludes six chapters. Chapter one is the introduction of the authorJulian Barnes and his works. Chapter two elaborates the theatrical backgrounds of this thesis. Chapter three analyzes the heroine Martha Cochrane in the Mirror Stage by her lost self.Chapter four analyzes the Symbolic Order for Martha Cochrane and her trial to join theSymbolic Order. Chapter five analyzes why Martha Cochrane needs the phallus to fix herfemale identity. Chapter six is the conclusion. It points out the statement: it is impossible forMartha Cochrane to gain her self-identity, because the impossibility of retrieval of father.