Author(s)

Lei Zhang

Corresponding Author

Lei Zhang

Abstract

From a semiotic point of view, Symptomatic criticism refers to the analysis of the works to seek for the differences between the author's intention, textual meaning and explanatory meaning, and to analyze the paradoxes, divergences, breaks and errors caused in the texts, so as to reinterpret the new meaning of the works. Using symptomatic analysis, we found that the intention meaning and practical meaning of Qiao Ye's novels are contradictory, and the gender relationship is not as she said in an interview “I think it’s not easy for men too, so I understand gender issues better”, or as some commentators think“The gender relationship is harmonious in the collision”, but ambiguous, nervous, or even confrontational. More importantly, as to the gender relationship, Qiao Ye's creation fell into the trap of feminism. She abandoned the binary opposition in characterization. The character image is unipolar, both female and male characters are demonized.

Keywords

Qiao Ye, Symptomatic analysis, Gender relationship, Female image, Male character