ENDLESS JOURNEYS, ILLUSIONARY DESTINATIONS: A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF SUEMO CHIA'S ADAN-WADE KOHOL GA (THE STORY OF ADANWADE)

Abstract

Life on earth is often depicted in literature as a journey from the cradle to the grave. The journey motif therefore is crucial in understanding the growth of characters as well as the shift in spatial and ideological locations embedded in a work of art. This paper discusses the incessant journeys embarked upon by the protagonist in Suemo Chia's novel, Adan-Wade Kohol Ga (The Story of Adan-Wade) which destinations have invariably resulted in unfulfilled wishes. This idea echoes the psychoanalysis of Jacques Lacan in which the psychological growth of an individual from infancy to adulthood is likened to a journey of discovery of the world order that limits his desires. It explains the loss of the idyllic bliss of childhood by individuals and their inability to retrieve it as they journey into different destinations or aspirations of life. The novel proves that life is a farce, an illusion we engage in but get no fulfilment or recompense for the loss of pre-oedipal wholeness. th *Being a paper presented at the 35 Anniversary of the Publication of Suemo Chia's Adan-Wade Kohol Ga on Wednesday, 23rd May, 2018.