식민자는 말해질 수 있는가 ― 염상섭 소설 속 식민자의 환유들

Abstract

In this paper, the qustion “Can the colonizer be spoken?” proposed to demomstrate a important aspect of Korean modern literatures that couldn't speak of Japanese as the colonizer consitituting main part of the colonial society, although developmened in the colonial period by Japanese imperialism. It is argued that Yeom Sang-sub's main novels tried to represent, indrectly, the colonizers unreprsentable or unspeakable in the colonial power by inserting biographical episods of figures being bureaucrat in the latter era of the Choson Dynasty who contacted with Japanese colonialists in course of Japanese annexation of Korea. Because, they revoked the beginning moment in colonialization. In his novels, pro-Japanese person is used as a metonym for the powerful colonizer. Korean bourgois ruin and corruption as well as ex-bureaucrats demonstrated not the cause of colonialization but its effect of that in his novels. Ruin or corruption might be the pontential possibility of life for all the colonized. That the colony was the place where brothels yawned for women and prisons for men is a true subject in his novel. Modern spaces as passenger ship, train and cafe were the place had thrown the colonizer and the colonized together, because thoese spaces allowed all persons, if having the ability to pay a charge, to enter. Episodes that the colonized Korean heard the news of ‘governor general' come back the colony Chosun from Japnan and another territory of Japanese emperialism in Kwangbun and Sarang-wa-joi, shows his effort to indicate being of colonizer by any means. Through these arguments, we have to reconsider a possibility of realism as novel style expressiong the political and social vision of bourgeoisie and the colonial system established on the grounds making the colonized not speak of the colonizer.