JULIA KRISTEVA’S CONCEPT OF MISPLACED ABJECTION IN ANGELA CARTER’S THE PASSION OF NEW EVE

ABSTRACT This essay studies Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve in terms of Julia Kristeva's concept of misplaced abjection. In her theory of subjectivity, Kristeva argues that abjection is put wrongly onto women. Accordingly, this essay is concerned to answer one central question: How does Carter's The Passion of New Eve represent Kristeva's concept of misplaced abjection? To answer this question, the study examines the protagonist's gender transformation. Through the first phase of his life, Evelyn is a misogynist and has no respect for women; however, he is later forcefully transformed into a woman by an elaborate sex-change surgery and begins to experience the position of the abject. It is assumed that this essay will finally reveal whether the kind of femininity Carter depicts is a social construction or an essential attribute of womanhood.