The Study of Dragons Reflected In Beowulf and In Korean Myths and Folktales
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
The figure of the dragon is one of the highest crystallizations of human imagination, psychology, culture and ideology. Beliefs in its actuality, ideas of its images, and descriptions of its activities have prevailed all over the world and circu- lated within different cultures since antiquity. The dragon has been a popular motif in art as well as in literature almost as long as it has existed in human imaginations. Scholars have noticed this phenomenon and made their research to solve the geo- graphic origin of the universal dragon. Some “Finnish” scholars reconstructing the diffusion of folk narratives, indicate that folk symbols move from “more-advanced” to “less-advanced people.” They reject such theories of origin as polygenesis or independent invention of folk images, the origin based in the primitive mentality or as the expression of an unconscious archetype. Another assertion that the dragon has been invented independently throughout the world in accordance with the cul- tural peculiarity of each country might sound attractive to those who object to the chauvinistic attitude of the “Finnish” scholars in searching for the original dragon. Similarly, however, this idea is not as persuasive as that of the “Finnish” school ei- ther, since we cannot completely deny the fact that the dragon is a cultural product which may travel from one place to another within the same category of culture, for example, from the Middle East to Europe, and from China to Japan and Korea. In- stead of searching for the unique origin of the dragon which responds to the cultural needs of each nation or for the process of diffusion of its origin from the civilized to the uncivilized, regardless of the cultural differences between the countries, bringing our focus to the diffusion of the dragon within the countries which are in the category of the same or similar culture is more helpful and less controversial for the study of the dragon. As the dragon in Beowulf is one of the products invented in the cul- tural environment of the Scandinavian tribes, in a broader sense, that of a Western culture, so are dragons in Korean myths and folktales born through the influence of the mother country of Asian culture, China. It is meaningful to make a comparison and analysis of the morphology and of symbolization between the western dragon reflected in Beowulf and the eastern dragon in Korean narratives. Beyond the con- trasting elements which result from the cultural and ideological difference between East and West, the universality of the dragon from a psychological angle is another aspect to be investigated through the analysis of Beowulf.
Abstract
The figure of the dragon is one of the highest crystallizations of human imagination, psychology, culture and ideology. Beliefs in its actuality, ideas of its images, and descriptions of its activities have prevailed all over the world and circu- lated within different cultures since antiquity. The dragon has been a popular motif in art as well as in literature almost as long as it has existed in human imaginations. Scholars have noticed this phenomenon and made their research to solve the geo- graphic origin of the universal dragon. Some “Finnish” scholars reconstructing the diffusion of folk narratives, indicate that folk symbols move from “more-advanced” to “less-advanced people.” They reject such theories of origin as polygenesis or independent invention of folk images, the origin based in the primitive mentality or as the expression of an unconscious archetype. Another assertion that the dragon has been invented independently throughout the world in accordance with the cul- tural peculiarity of each country might sound attractive to those who object to the chauvinistic attitude of the “Finnish” scholars in searching for the original dragon. Similarly, however, this idea is not as persuasive as that of the “Finnish” school ei- ther, since we cannot completely deny the fact that the dragon is a cultural product which may travel from one place to another within the same category of culture, for example, from the Middle East to Europe, and from China to Japan and Korea. In- stead of searching for the unique origin of the dragon which responds to the cultural needs of each nation or for the process of diffusion of its origin from the civilized to the uncivilized, regardless of the cultural differences between the countries, bringing our focus to the diffusion of the dragon within the countries which are in the category of the same or similar culture is more helpful and less controversial for the study of the dragon. As the dragon in Beowulf is one of the products invented in the cul- tural environment of the Scandinavian tribes, in a broader sense, that of a Western culture, so are dragons in Korean myths and folktales born through the influence of the mother country of Asian culture, China. It is meaningful to make a comparison and analysis of the morphology and of symbolization between the western dragon reflected in Beowulf and the eastern dragon in Korean narratives. Beyond the con- trasting elements which result from the cultural and ideological difference between East and West, the universality of the dragon from a psychological angle is another aspect to be investigated through the analysis of Beowulf.
참고문헌 (36)
- Benson, Larry D., "The Originality of Beowulf, The Interpretation of Narrative" (1970), Harvard UP
- Berger, Harry J., "Social Structure as Doom: The Limits of Heroism in Beowulf, Old English Studies in Honour of John C. Pope" (1977), U of Toronto P
- Bernard, Mary, "A Dragon Hunt", American Scholar, 33, pp.422~427 (1964)
- Bonjour, Adrien, "Twelve Beowulf Papers 1940-1960" (1962)
- Braeger, Peter C., "Connotations of (Earm) Sceapen: Beowulf ll. 2228-2229 and the Shape-Shifting Dragon", Essays in Literature, 13, pp.327~330 (1986)
- Chadwick, Nora K., "The Monsters and Beowulf, The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some Aspects of Their History and Culture Presented to Bruce Dickins" (1959), Bowes & Bowes
- Evans, Jonathan D., "A Semiotic of the Old English Dragon", Ph.D., pp.1984
- Fajardo-Acosta, Fidel, "The Condemnation of Heroism in the Tragedy of Beowulf: A Study in the Characterization of the Epic" (1989), The Edwin Mellen P
- Fontenrose, Joseph, "Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins" (1959), U of California P
- Frye, Northrop, "Anatomy of Criticism" (1957), Princeton UP
- Gang, T. M., "Approaches to Beowulf", RES N.S, 3, pp.1~12 (1952)
- Gillam, Doreen M. E., "The Use of the Term aeglaeca in Beowulf at Lines 893 and 2592", Studia Germanica Gandensia, 3, pp.145~169 (1961)
- Goldsmith, Margaret E., "The Mode and Meaning of ‘Beowulf'" (1970), The Athlone Press University of London
- Gould, Charles, "Mythical Monsters" (1886), W. H. Allen & Co
- Haarder, Andreas, "Beowulf: The Appeal of a Poem" (1975), Akademisk Forlag
- Holiday, Frederich W., "The Dragon and the Disc: An Investigation into the Totally Fantastic" (1973), W. W. Norton and Company
- Ingersoll, Ernest, "Dragons and Dragon Lore" (1928), Payson and Clarke
- Irving, Edward B., "Introduction to Beowulf" (1969), Prentice-Hall
- Jung, Carl G., "C. G. Jung: Letters, Book 1 & 2" (1975), Princeton UP
- Kindrick, Robert L., "Germanic Sapientia and the Heroic Ethos in Beowulf", Medievalia et Humanistica, N.S., 10, pp.1~17 (1981)
- Klaeber, Frederick, "Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg" (1950), D. C. Heath
- Kordecki, Lesley C., "Traditions and Developments of the Medieval English Dragon", Ph. D., pp.1980
- Krohn, Kaarle, "Die Folkloristishe Arbeitsmethode" (1926), Harvard UP
- Lawrence, W. W., "Beowulf and Epic Tradition" (1928), Harvard UP
- Lee, Alvin A., "The Guest-Hall of Eden: Four Essays on the Design of Old English Poetry" (1972), Yale UP
- Lyerle, John, "Beowulf the Hero and the King", Medium Aevum, 34, pp.89~102 (1965)
- Newman, Paul, "The Hill of the Dragon: An Enquiry into the Nature of Dragon Legends" (1979), Rowman and Littlefield
- Ogilvy, J. D., "Reading Beowulf: An Introduction to the Poem, Its Background and Its Style" (1983), U of Oklahoma P
- Simpson, Jacqueline, "British Dragons" (1980), B. T. Batsford Ltd
- Simpson, Jacqueline, "Beowulf and Its Analogues" (1971), Dutton
- Smith, Elliot, "The Evolution of the Dragon" (1919), Manchester UP
- Tolkien, J. R. R., "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics", Proceedings of the British Academy, 22, pp.245~295 (1936)
- Tripp, Raymond P., "More About the Fight with the Dragon: Beowulf 2208b-3182" (1983), University P of America
- Van Meurs, J. C., "Beowulf and Literary Criticism", Neophilologus, 36, pp.114~130 (1955)
- Welsch, Roger, "Folklore Methodology" (1971), U of Texas P
- Zhao, Qiguang, "A Study of Dragons, East andd West" (1992), Peter Lang