The filial piety complex: variations on the Oedipus theme in Chinese literature and culture |
| |
Authors: | Gu Ming Dong |
| |
Institution: | Department of Modern Languages, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, USA. Gu@rhodes.edu |
| |
Abstract: | The Oedipus complex is central to Western tradition, but not to Chinese culture. Occurrence of oedipal themes in Chinese literature is almost negligible. This phenomenon seems to support a contra-Freud claim: that a theory of European origin, the Oedipus complex, is not universal to human experience in non-Western cultures. However, this article suggests that powerful moral repression may cause the Oedipus complex to undergo structural transformations in some cultures. Through studying a sample of Chinese literary and film representations, the author argues that the Oedipus complex in Chinese culture has been transformed into a filial piety complex. Some conceptual issues are considered from a cross-cultural perspective. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|