Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - András Tarnóc: "we deserve a Butterfly ": The Reversal of the Post-colonial Self in David Henry Hwang 's M. Butterfly

ANDRÁS TARNÓC "WE DESERVE A BUTTERFLY": THE REVERSAL OF THE POST-COLONIAL SELF IN DAVID HENRY HWANG'S M. BUTTERFLY I The purpose of this paper is to explore the shift of the paradigm of the post-colonial Self in David Henry Hwang's 1988 drama M. Butterfly. While Hwang's play offering a postmodern rendition of Puccini's Madame Butterfly (1904) has been analyzed from numerous vantage points, I am primarily fascinated by the reversal of the original characters, that is, how a classic encounter between East and West is twisted around both sexually and culturally. My exploration of the identity shift commemorated in the drama rests on two pillars, the notion of the Self, as defined by Sartre, and Sura P. Rath's concept of the home. The application of the abovementioned theoretical apparatus will be complemented by the examination of the drama's semiotic context, along with an inquiry into the othering process demonstrated in the play. II In Sartre's Being and Nothingness (1943), a tripartite concept of the Self is envisioned. "Being for Itself' expresses the knowing consciousness, or the sum-total of I, the Historicized Self, "Being for Others" is the Mirrored Self showing how one's existence is reflected 97