Love Cannot Reach the West: The Image of the “Girl” in Wang Luobin's Lyrics

Ruiman  Han

doi:10.54691/z1yabd44

Authors

Ruiman Han

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54691/z1yabd44

Keywords:

Wang Luobin; psychology of creation; narrative structure; psychoanalysis; unconscious desire; structuralist textual analysis.

Abstract

Through an analysis of the Girl imagery in ten of Wang Luobin’s lyrics, this paper explores its symbolic significance within both the textual structure and the psychology of creation. It argues that the Girl in Wang Luobin’s songs always remains in a state of “not-yet-arrived”--an unattainable and ever-elusive phantom. The constellation of related images surrounding the Girl--such as the moon, the rose, the whip, and the grave--collectively constructs a symbolic system in which life and death, power and pain are intertwined. The relationship between the young “I” and the Girl is not merely a romantic narrative; rather, it embodies an unconscious projection between the creator and the self, the ideal and the act of creation. Through the repeated depiction of “love that cannot be possessed,” Wang Luobin transforms his obsession with creation and freedom into a symbolic process of self-redemption. Hence, “love” in Wang Luobin’s work functions not only as a creative motif but also as a metaphor for his lived experience and inner spiritual struggle.

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