Mirror Analysis Of Canxue’s And Kafka’s Novels

As a contemporary avantgarde writer in China, Canxue is outstanding for her unique creative concept and idea. At the very beginning, Canxue forthrightly and honestly admitted that Kafka had given deep impact on her creation. In this thesis the author tries to take the example of Celebrity’s Death and A Hunger Artist to interpret the mirror theme in Canxue’s and Kafka’s novels with Lacan’s mirror theory.Self in the mirror is the self concept through others. The society which we belong to is a mirror for us to identity and re-examine ourselves. In real life, we are closely linked with the surrounding environment. The same as in the virtual world of two writers’ novels, the characters in the story also live in the very atmosphere of "other". As long as we are living, we shall be with "others" who is always accompanied with us. The core of Lacan’s mirror theory is self-identity and others."Other" has been deeply rooted in the initial form of self-identity, which the Self can not escape from. And then in the pursuit of life the Self suffer from lots of loss and alienation. Finally the Self breaks through the tight besiegement, as if one were waking from a dream but found that all is vanity.The celebrity and artist confirmed self-identity through "other", their images recognized in the "mirror" conflict with the reality, which can not fulfill their expectations, so they fall into despair. The broken mirror also means the end of the heroes’ life.As for the two writers, Canxue’s interpretation of Franz Kafka, in fact, is to have a better look at herself through him and constantly improve herself. Lacan’s mirror theory has built a comparative study bridge between Canxue’s and Kafka’s novels for us, in order to enhance our understanding of the rich connotation of Canxue’s and Kafka’s novels.