실화소설에 나타난 분단현실인식과 의미망 연구 - 정은용의 『그대, 우리의 아픔을 아는가』를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study aims to analyze a real story novel entitled ‘Do you know our pains?’ and written by Eun-yong Jeong, with a view to understand the metonymic meanings of ideology and the writer’s perspective of his era. The present author examined the semantic network of the novelist in order to know how he inspires the meanings of his perspective into his novel, since the perspective stands for his recognition of the realities of his divided country. War is justified by the ideology of either party of the warriors, but it is still a violence and disaster which should take away all the hopes and expectations from us. The semantic network of this novel is meant to betray the recklessness and falseness of war ideologies and remind us of the barrenness of worldwide wars. Eun-yong Jeong traces the damages and blindness caused by the Korean War while identifying the bruises of the Korean race. In the novel, Jeong makes efforts to remind us of the rashness of wars and promote the universal values of peace and love and the dignity of human life. However, the novel, which mainly cites South Koreans to portray characteristic classes and groups, does not succeed in generally describing the realities of divided Koreas. For example, it does not vividly depict the detailed activities of the South Korean military and police nor the specific procedures of action guidelines and their enforcement regulations applicable to the members of the Reporting League. This implies the fact that the writer himself was a victim of the national tragedy and so that he cannot maintain the balance of values in describing the division of his native land. If he successfully did that, he could objectively picture the injustice of divided Koreas and the Korean War. Furthermore, he also could discuss the possibility of overcoming the division. Anyhow, the novel is significant in that it exposes the absurdity of divided Koreas and the Korean War and awakens the attention of the people to the massacre committed at Nogeun-ri while searching for solutions and cures for the national calamities.