The Resonance of Gothic Literature With Heidegger and Zhuangzi in the Thought of Subjectivity

Abstract

Gothicness is an intrinsic attribute of western culture, and the Gothic literature is accordingly an enduring literary genre which reveals the disintegration of the structure of the masses in modern western societies and critically exposes the symptoms of their subjectivity. Gothic literature also explores the sublimation of subjectivity through a liminal spatiotemporal vision, resonating with Heidegger’s existentialist idea of Sein-zum-tode (being-toward-death) and Zhuangzi’s Daoist concept of wū sàng wǒ (selfhood loss), both of which advocate the pursuit of authentic self and life by rational reflection upon death. However, Heidegger follows Kantian rationality of cogito, ergo sum and remains confined in the singular introspective dimension, while Zhuangzi seeks for “the equality of all things” and shifts the perspective from “embodiment” to “disembodiment” by integrating humanness and the thingness to launch an infinite potential for elevating and sublimating human subjectivity.