An Adlerian Analysis of the Problematic Mother-Daughter Relationship in Eileen Chang's The Golden Cangue and Elfriede Jelinek's Die Klavierspielerin

The Chinese writer Eileen Chang's novella Jinsuo Ji (The Golden Cangue, 1943) and Elfriede Jelinek's novel Die Klavierspielerin (1983) depict a problematic mother-daughter relationship. Despite their disparate dynastic and national backgrounds, these two works bear many similarities in terms of extreme maternal manipulation and despair the daughters undergo. Unlike the idealized stereotype of a mother who selflessly nurtures and protects her daughter, the mothers in these two works are not caregivers; rather, they destroy their daughters' lives. Drawing upon Alfred Adler's theory of individual psychology, this paper investigates the mothers' mentality in their respective contexts and probes unconventional mother-daughter relationships.