The world within the word: a Lacanian reading of William Gass’s "Emma enters a sentence of Elizabeth Bishop’s"

Abstract

“Emma Enters a Sentence of Elizabeth Bishop’s” by William H. Gass addresses the human condition in terms of desire and consciousness in fiction by depicting characters that are being suffocated under the force of circumstances. Application of Lacanian theories to Gass’s novella sheds some light on the unconscious features of its main character, Emma, whose neurosis caused by her father’s extremism in acting out his patriarchal role is presented in the form of disparate, metonymical chunks ‘disseminated’ through the narrative – itself fragmentary. Broken pieces of Emma’s narrative put together through the medium of language highlight how her actions stem from her unconscious pathological motivations. Also discussed is the process through which she manages to find a way out of her plight.

Keywords

• william gass’s emma enters a sentence of elizabeth bishop’s
• jacques lacan
• word
• world
• patriarchal metaphor
• neurotic subject’s consciousness