李德懋 척독 연구－‘내면’, 혹은 ‘사적 자아’의 발견－

Abstract

Letters are basically private communication ways among general persons, however the 'Chuck-Dok(尺牘)', 'Short Letters' are regarded as literary art in the late Chosun Period. This essay aims at searching for specifics and originalities of Yi, Duk-Moo(李德懋, 1741-1793)'s letters. Yi's letters are rich in human warmth, and they have shown distinctive feature of individual signs much more than any other letters written in the late Chosun Period. Considering Yi's letters in detail, there are three characteristics of individual aspects. Most of all, Yi's letters have shown romantic confession of his own emotion and experience. He wrote about some delicate feelings at a moment, missing his friends, and recognizing his own identity in his letters. Secondly, he took a subjective view of observing things around him and he described those things refined style in his letters. Thirdly, he expressed himself through his unique tastes, habits, and inclination. He was a dignified and serious scholar, but his letters shows us his another sensitive tendency, that is 'internal self identity', and 'private ego'. Yi Duk-moo was belonged to 'Baek-Tap Si Pa(Poetry Group of White Tower白塔詩派)', and they owned literary intention jointly. But among their works, Yi's letters was most self expressive and confessive. In the late Chosun Period, Jung-Jo(正祖, 1752-1800, the 22th king in Chosun Dynasty) practiced the 'Policy of the literary style(文體反正)', so prohibited 'novel style(小說體)', and 'literary sketch style(小品體)'. Yi Duk-moo was a faithful follower of that policy, and he criticized harmful influence of the 'novel style(小說體)'. But on the contrary, writing in his own literary works, he prefered to 'literary sketch style(小品體)', especially in his letters. As a consequence, it follows that his letter shows a complicated and inconsistent 'internal self-identity'.