가전의 담화 구성 방식과 소재의 기호화 - <孔方傳>과 <竹夫人傳>을 중심으로 하여 -

Abstract

The genre of Gajeon in Korean classical literature involves the anthropomorphism of non-human entities such as animals, plants, and objects, creating fictional narratives in the form of biographies. This study focuses on two Gajeon works: “Gongbangjeon,” which features money, and “Jukbuinjeon,” which centers on bamboo. It examines how these works employ metaphor and metonymy, crucial narrative techniques, to craft their stories. Displaying all the metaphors and metonymies we momentarily think and perform in life and literature is challenging due to our natural experience and quick recognition of similarities between two objects or proximate entities in the world. Therefore, readers can understand numerous metaphors, metonymies, and allusions related to the central subjects of Gajeon, deeply connected to the socio-cultural codes of the time. This paper analyzes how the primary and secondary meanings of the central subjects in “Gongbangjeon” and “Jukbuinjeon” are acquired and reflected through metaphor and metonymy, ultimately revealing the themes these works aim to convey through their subjects. Additionally, it discusses how these subjects are symbolized within the themes. Conclusively, “Gongbangjeon” and “Jukbuinjeon” each exhibit metonymic and metaphoric narrative structures, respectively, where money is presented as an index sign and bamboo as a symbolic sign from the perspective of Peircean semiotics. This study elucidates the socio-cultural context and universal semiotic interpretations of money and bamboo, demonstrating that Gajeon is a literary genre that strongly reflects the knowledge system, socio-cultural environment, and thoughts of the writers of its time.