The Paradox of Self-Disintegration: On Yu Dafu's Protagonist's "Forgetfulness" Strategy and the Crisis of Modernity Identity

Abstract

This article aims to go beyond the traditional interpretation mode that simply regards the "forgetfulness" behavior in Yu Dafu's novels as decadence or pathology, and redefine it as an active survival strategy adopted by an objective subject in the predicament of modernity identity. By integrating Nietzsche's "active forgetting" theory, Althusser's "summoning" theory and Lacan's mirror theory, this article holds that the protagonists in Yu Dafu's works attempt to disintegrate the social self through "forgetful" behaviors such as alcoholism, indulgence and being intoxicated by nature, and try to explore a true self in a roundabout way. This is to evade the deviation from the ideal subject position promised by the new cultural ideology initiated by the May Fourth Movement. This survival strategy was ultimately proven to be ineffective and paradoxical, leading to the complete dispersion of its subjectivity. This article thereby reveals the profound modernity predicament faced by individuals in latecomer modernity countries.