<태원지(太原誌)>의 일주(一周) 상상력과 다원(多元)의 세계관―고소설의 사유 실험에 대한 단상을 더하여―

Abstract

In the novel <Taewonji> in the late Joseon Dynasty, Confucian and non-Confucian thought work mutually. Although Confucianism’s concept of ‘destiny [天命]’ penetrates the superficial narrative, the concrete world conception is based on the experience of voyages in the West, the Daegu theory of the ancient Chuyeon, and the archaeological astronomy mathematics of the Qing dynasty, which has been focused on intellectual experiments since the 18th century, are getting involved. The acceptance of this intellectual movement is realized through narrative composition based on a sense of number, geography imagination, imagination around the world, and a multi-dimensional worldview. <Taewonji> is active in the use of numbers to the extent that it is said to be a novel made up of numbers. It embodies figures and imaginary geography with numerical information and images. This provides realistic impressions and logical realism to fictional characters and virtual worlds. <Taewonji> is a scene of natural displacement from the East Sea to the West Sea during the voyage, and by narrating the imagination of the circumnavigation, it reveals the mathematical logic and empirical worldview of round earth, and recognizes fictional works logically and empirically. However, the circle of <Taewonji> is not a simple physical cycle, but is connected to a symmetrical plural world that moves to the same space with a different order and character. Taewon, which arrived in this way, is a symmetrical plural world of Jungwon, and has the character of ‘the beginning of the Jungwon’, which is historically and civilly located in ancient times. <Taewonji> reflects the competitive knowledge field in the late Joseon Dynasty. However, the attitude of narrative thought experiments that do not passively accept the intellectual movement is also found. <Taewonji> provides an opportunity and experience to reexamine the cultural framework of the late Joseon Dynasty, which was taken for granted, by narratively adapting the thought experiment that causes tension in the existing cultural framework. It also shows the circumstances in which novels in the late Joseon Dynasty participated in thought experiments with an open attitude to the dynamic intellectual environment. A novel cannot be completely free from the cultural framework of the times, but it also does not unilaterally accept the existing cultural culture. The novel participates in the field where the cultural framework of its time is reconstructed, and can serve as a place of experimentation to contemplate new thoughts through highly scalable popular writing.