조선후기 散文에 나타난 꽃에 대한 인식과 심미의식

Abstract

This study is a kind of observation of flowers, to reveal the esthetical awareness shown in the prose of the late Chosun Dynasty. The objects of analysis are the recognition of flowers presented in the prose of Ok-Lee and the new style writers of the late Chosun Dynasty. Firstly this study examines the records of flowers in classics prose and the common understanding of Confucian scholars for flowers. On the basis of these, it approaches the aesthetical attitude toward flowers in the prose of the late Chosun Dynasty with two aspects. First, it focuses on the aesthetical awareness of Ok-Lee who among all writers is considered as the best writer looking into flowers in an aesthetical way. Ok-Lee did not look into flowers in a habitual and ethical way. His point of viewing flowers is not on the picturesque or perfume of them, but on the change and evanishment of them. In consideration of evanishment of flowers, Ok-Lee felt fear and frailty, which are not usually the characteristic views from any other writers, but they are very unique in Ok-Lee's sensitivity. In this point, an aestheticism has been initiated, which departs the literature from ethics. Another point of view comes from the metaphor aspects of flowers shown among the new style writers of the late Chosun Dynasty. The writings in the late Chosun searching for the unique personality and the variety of writing style had the common point that they contained the metaphor of flowers. These new style writers attracted the ecology of flowers in order to urge the legitimacy of variety in writing. They chose flowers to increase the power of persuasion to their opinion and to make others understood more effectively. The fact that prose writers used flowers as the main object of metaphor is deeply related with the trend of loving flowers. Meanwhile, even the same prose writers had different taste according to their individual liking. The fact that the metaphor of flowers was made in a level of writing, not of human or life, reveals that flowers was getting out from the domain of ethics and morality.