죽음과 노년에 대한 문학적 연구 —김태수 희곡작품을 중심으로—

Abstract

It is natural and proper to say that one of literature's important purposes is pursuit of social values, even without the need to borrow Hegel's argument that literature is the son of the era. In this era when aging has emerged as a serious social problem, playwrights should pay attention to senior issues. The problem humans can never overcome is aging and dying, and therefore the topic of aging is not only tiring and but also attractive. However, plays where an elderly person appears as a protagonist and whose main subject is death are very rare. This thesis examined the elderly and aspects of death with the texts in plays written by Kim Tae-soo, a contemporary playwright good at communicating with the audience, such as When the Sun Sets, the Moon Rises, A Flower Carriage Runs and A Famous Actor Hwanggeumbong. These works approach the issue of old age and death from realistic perspectives. When the Sun Sets, the Moon Rises and A Flower Carriage Runs present a controversial topic of dialogue from new perspectives of old age like "recklessly running old person" and "young, elderly person". In order to reflect the reality of old age in a detailed manner, the playwright has new elderly persons who are in contrast with common-sense images of old age appear on the stage. In particular, given that a decade ago when they were created, such senior issues were not raised, they show that his realistic intuition is very excellent. A Famous Actor Hwanggeumbong depicts Hwanggeumbong's lonely life, looking straightly on the problematic reality of the elderly living alone. We are accustomed to their committing suicides, stricken by poverty, illness and loneliness. All the elderly characters in his works become faced with death. Their aspects of death vary from death from disease to suicide but the playwright's standpoints about the elderly's attitudes toward death are clearly revealed. He understands death with a viewpoint of pancosmic spirit and describes ecological death, thereby presenting positive attitudes towards death. From ecological perspectives, life and death are the same; When humans reach death, their capability of sympathy that reveals human dignity expands. Dying of old age is an irresistible scientific principle of the Nature. We only contemplate about our will and choice regarding how to become old and prepare for death. The works by Kim Tae-soo contain the playwright's insight into such contemplations.