Gender and Jesus as Allegory
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: SummaryThis article contends that both Gender and Jesus can be seen as allegories through which we can observe the puzzle of incarnation as experienced by humans as subjects. The idea that Jesus may be seen as an allegory for the agonies of embodied consciousness and, ultimately, as a form of existential allegory is suggested by two novels by J.M. Coetzee that enigmatically deploy the name of Jesus in their titles, The Childhood of Jesus and The Schooldays of Jesus. Gender as allegory is supported by the work of Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, and Camille Paglia. These theorists' postulations also explore the intersection between corporeality and the socio-symbolic means that attempt to account for it. Special consideration is given to transgender individuals insofar as they might highlight the problematic nature of incarnated subjectivity. The paper further posits a parallel between trans subjects and Jesus in that both reveal the traumas and opportunities that occur along the frontier between being and meaning where an existential form of allegory can be said to take place.
Source: Journal of Literary Studies
Author: Eugene de Klerk
Institution: University of Mpumalanga
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $388
OpenAlex ID: W2981003938