이념 선택과 궁핍한 주체로의 길－허준의 「잔등」론－

Abstract

This paper is on the study of the character's identity in Heo Jun's “The Faint Lamplight”. In the piece, the author depicts the journey of the main character from Changchun to Gyeongseong via Hoeryong and Chongjin. The work is the author's autobiographical content, as he returned home from his stint in the Manchurian capital. The piece first depicts the main character's escape from Manchuria due to Japan's defeat. And this escape and return clearly shows that there is a great difference in sentiment and worldview from the hopeful return of the exiled to their emancipated homeland because it was a war refugee's. This is the part that reveals the value of this work. The author describes in detail how the main character, who is a war refugee, is transformed into a Korean through a ritual of returning home. Some important scenes are produced and illustrated by how the gap between war refugees and Koreans is overcome through some mediums. Describing a relative farmer in Manchuria who lived a hard life, a boy who catches Japanese fleeing in a rural area near Chongjin, and an old woman who runs a soup kitchen to help Japanese who are in exile, he claims universal cause and international solidarity beyond the people's morals. Although it was not positively accepted at that time and was considered a literary achievement of no passion, Heo Jun's theme is considered a valuable literary legacy that should be repeated all over again.