이병주 대중소설에 재현된 여성 이미지 연구

Abstract

This writing aims to look into the style of a female character’s reproduction in Lee, Byung-ju’s popular novel. The existing discussions about Lee, Byung-ju shed light on, or criticize the significance of Lee, Byung-ju literature with focus on historical records. However, popular novels also account for a substantial part of Lee, Byung-ju’s novels, so this writer thinks that there is a need for discussions about his popular novels as well for a legitimate evaluation of Lee, Byung-ju’s novels. Especially, the discussion about female characters in his popular novels, who aggressively reflect desires of writer Lee, Byung-ju and the reading public of his day can be said to be a starting point of Lee, Byung-ju’s popular novel. First, in Lee, Byung-ju’s novels, a female is portrayed in the form reflecting a male writer’s desires. Such an example is the very image of a sexually objectified woman, and a sacrificing woman for love. Taking a step forward from here, Lee, Byung-ju embodies a female cafe manager as a simplehearted, even wise, flawless woman equipped with superb good looks while embodying a wealth, leisured woman as a snobbish woman who is vulgar and thick-witted, pursuing physical pleasure only. Like this, in the face of a subversive embodiment of class location differing from the common perception, also inherent is quite a male-oriented thinking in Lee, Byung-ju’s novels that it is the very male that edifies a fallen woman. Besides, there is also an independent female character attracting a reader’s attention, who won’t be subordinate to a male character among the female characters of Lee, Byung-ju. Such women claim to stand for an independent woman achieving socio-economic independence instead of being embodied as others from the eyes of male subject. However, it’s difficult to judge that they occupy the location as a true subject in society; rather, they fall into self-contradiction by trying to achieve economic independence by relying on others, or expressing their objection to chastity ideology through the way of proving chastity. Eventually, female characters in Lee, Byung-ju’s novels cannot but remain as false subjects who don’t have a meaning as an authentic subject, which aspect might be a limitation of Lee, Byung-ju, and also a reflection of the then public’s perception of women. By recording and expanding the tragedy of history and society, Lee, Byung-ju is in touch with his novel goals.