똥과 한국시의 상상력 : 정호승과 최승호의 시를 중심으로

Abstract

In this article, I analyze how human waste is portrayed in modern Korean poetry since the 1980s. Contrary to the tendencies of the previous decades that drew upon negative imagery of feces for purposes of satire, works produced after the 1980s actively embrace feces as a legitimate object of poetic exploration, many of which offer positive insights about human waste. In this regard, the new trend shows how human waste, which the modern world had relegated to an object of disgust that should be eliminated from our everyday activities, is reentering our lives and imagination. The way each poet regards and portrays human waste varies widely. I categorize various works that treat feces as their poetic subject matter into two strands, depending on how the act of defecating is portrayed: “defecating on the border,” and “defecating in closed space.” First I analyze the works that portray defecating on the border, which is rooted in understanding defectating as an act of cleansing the body and mind. In the poems, Hae-woo-so, the toilets in Korean Buddhist temples, represents boundary between wilderness and civilization; filth and cleanliness; the sacred and the secular. In this section I additionally examine several works that employ the imagery of defecating in an open space, which are grounded in understanding defecation as the very act of returning what the soil has given humanity to its origins and thereby enriching the soil. Defecation is therefore an act of communicating with nature. Yet imagining defecation as an act of deviance simply underscores the positive aspects of human waste, while disregarding its ambivalent nature. Then I analyze how defecating in a closed space is portrayed, in particular the depiction of traditional Korean toilets and modern flush toilets. The traditional toilet may seem unsanitary from modern standards of hygiene, but it is portrayed as a communal space where people’s lives intersect, which is in contrast to the cold and impersonal rationality of modernized toilets. In the works I analyze, the white ceramic of the modern flush toilet, a symbol of modern refinement and sanitation, simultaneously represents the attraction and threats of civilization. Thus, the toilet, evoking a black hole that devours and destroys everything, is portrayed as a symbol of desire disintegrating into nothingness. Above is a brief overview of how human waste has been represented in modern Korean poetry since the 1980s. In the context of Science Walden project that explores solutions for the growing environmental threats posed by human waste, my article is only part of a larger portrait. There is still much that literature has yet to address if we hope to build a future where we are safe from the environmental threats posed by human waste. One important contribution to this goal would be transforming the way we regard eating and defecating from separate activities into correlated ones. This transformation in perception would be the first step for actively seeking solutions; only when we are more attentive to what we eat can we solve the current waste crisis. Instead of trying to fix the overflow of human excretion, it is more rational to produce less waste in the first place. Ultimately, this work points to the urgent need to challenge the current capitalist culture and politics of desire that incessantly pique our appetite and force us to consume more food than we need. Changing the way we look at feces is the most meaningful intervention that studies of humanities and literature (and in particular, poetry) can make as part of the current Science Walden project. Challenging the way our desire and consumption are organized under the current capitalist system teaches us how to distinguish between fabricated desire and real need, allowing us to limit our consumption to fulfilling our bodily needs and ultimately helping solve the waste crisis by reimagining the relationship between humanity and nature. The simple act of consuming less can significantly reduce environmental harm and save the lives of countless animals that are killed prematurely to feed humans. In this regard, I believe the poetic imagination will go beyond rethinking feces and the act of defecation to address fundamental questions about our appetite and the act of consumption.