반복과 예외, 혹은 불가능한 공동체― 『취우』(1953)를 중심으로

Abstract

Chuiwoo(1953) by Yeom, Sang-seop has been praised as a masterpiece among literary testimonies to the Korean War. However, when recalling that he usually represented 'modern women' as negative characters, Chuiwoo is exceptional for the rule. Above all things, the unusual transformation of Gang, Soon-jae into a 'modern woman' was realizable, now that the background of the novel was set in Seoul under the war conditions. That is to say, the separation from the mechanism of ideology(Jang, Jin) and capitalism(Kim, Hak-soo) made her change into a new woman possible. The fact that the self-realization of a modern woman could not be achieved until this exceptional situation showed the narrative truth that had been rarely spoken in the Korean modern literary history. While Gang, Soon-jae sought the rehabilitation for herself, male characters including Shin, Young-sik indulged themselves in keeping the Boston Bag that symbolized capitalism from the ravages of war. In other words, the phallocentric consciousness of crisis was likewise concealed basically behind the humane gaze at a 'new woman'. The image of Shin, Young-sik who wanted to remain 'honest' and 'conscientious' to Others(females) while defending the system of capitalism (or patriarchy) is quite similar to that of Jo, Deok-gi, the appearance of sympathizer in Samdae(Three Generation, 1931) who did not want to neglect ethics, desire, and ideology within their boundaries. Moreover, in that one of the suggestive identities of Gang, Soon-jae was a war widow, the setting of Seoul in Chuiwoo represented the South Korean society and its family system which a single mother led her life in. In this regard, the Korean War that was represented in Chuiwoo causes the reorganization of family relationship, corresponding to metaphorical expansion of unexpected arrival of a new world in which the society would be reorganized by woman-centered system.