『보스턴 사람들』: 퀴어한 서사, 두 갈래의 로맨스

• 영문명: The Bostonians: Two Strands of Romance in a Queer Narrative
• 발행기관: 한국아메리카학회
• 저자명: 윤조원(Joewon Yoon)
• 간행물 정보: 『미국학논집』제57집 2호, 101~126쪽, 전체 26쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.09.30

국문 초록

Henry James’s The Bostonians comprehensively depicts the social landscape of post-Civil War America, where diverse ideologies and factions competed. In doing so, the novel skillfully employs the popular tradition of sentimental romance and the marriage plot, which was a major form in Anglo-American fiction since the 18th century. Interestingly, the narrative unfolds the romance plot unfolds in two strands, through the affective bond between Olive and Verena and Basil Ransom’s courtship of Verena. The romance unfolding along two distinct paths is already a highly political setup, for they represent different modes of negotiation with normative gender identification and normative plot structures for the emerging new female subject. Whereas Olive and Verena’s queer friendship attempts to affirm women’s social and political agency, polymorphous desires, and solidarity, Ransom and Verena’s courtship represents the persistent constraints of male-centered conventions that seek to confine women to domestic roles. This dual plot casts the love triangle into a new phase, being a contest between a woman and a man (not two men) desiring the same woman. Moreover, it is also unprecedentedly radical, for it pits the non-normative passion of homosexuality against the romanticized, idealized norm of heterosexuality. This paper examines how James uses the seemingly traditional marriage plot in order to represent what cannot be contained in the heteronormative institution of marriage. Above all, I will argue that despite the superficial and formal dominance of the heterosexual romance plot that ends up in marriage, this novel significance lies in its undaunted exploration of queer female desire and the narrative possibilities for female voice.

목차

1. “매우 미국적인 이야기”

2. “병적인” 올리브와 “남부 신사” 랜섬

3. 실패한 로맨스와 결혼의 역설

인용문헌

키워드

헨리 제임스 『보스턴 사람들』 여성운동 결혼 서사 이성애 로맨스 이성애규범성 젠더(화) 퀴어 서사 Henry James The Bostonians suffrage movement marriage plot heterosexual romance heteronormativity gender(ing) queer narrative