Split consciousness : the dialectics of desire in Camel Xiangzi

This paper attempts to describe the possible operation of a dialectic of desire in the ideological subtext of modern Chinese realism. By tracing the dialectical interaction between subjectivity ("that which is") and objectivity ("other than itself"), I shall try to locate the root of desire——in its various forms as the desire to work, to love, to survive, and to represent——as hidden or manifested in the text of Lao She's most powerful realist novel, Luotuo Xiangzi [Camel Xiangzi].