『눈 먼 남자』―“보이지 않는”, “하나의 온전한 세계” 속에서의 길 찾기

Abstract

“The Blind Man”Looking for a Way “in a whole world”, “invisible”Sun Ryung Choi (Seoul National U)“The Blind Man” is a story of a man who got to be awakened to a new perception of life by his accidental loss of sight. Certainly this story reflects Lawrence’s critical view of the typical modern mode of perception, that of “visualizing everything,” and his radical reevaluation of the sense of ‘touch’ as evoked in the impressive opening description of Maurice’s newly found powerful life and “a wonderful and unspeakable intimacy” between him and his wife Isabel. Yet it could hardly be seen as a stereotyped story that exemplifies the notorious Lawrencian priority of blood consciousness over mental consciousness, nor as one that leads to some placid balance between them. What this paper tries to bring into focus is the subtlety with which Lawrence dramatizes the tensions and ambiguities involved in Maurice’s search for intimacy based on blood consciousness. For this purpose, this paper closely analyses both Maurice’s relationship with Isabel, the fecundity of which is undermined by her latent desire to possess him, and his problematic relationship with Bertie in which Maurice’s turbulent ecstasy overrides Bertie’s perplexity and abhorrent feeling. As a result, “The Blind Man” will come out as a richly nuanced work informed by the author’s acute sense of the complications in developing human intimacy through “sheer immediacy of blood contact” that is in its nature beyond language and articulation.