벤야민 소설론에 대한 비평적 연구–루카치의 세계를 횡단하여

Abstract

This paper attempts to read the idea of Walter Benjamin from a ‘novel-theory point of view.’ It is to open up the horizon of possibility of academic debate that has not been covered in the past, and to expand the base of existing research. Benjamin, an all-round theorist and critic, has been influential in Korea's academic circle of humanities as his reputation. However, when retracing the past researches on Benjamin, it can be discovered that his theoretical reflection on novels has not much been dealt with, even though the literary theory was one of his major research and critical practice. Above all, it can be mainly attributed to the fact that Benjamin himself did not attempt to establish a ‘sophisticated and methodical novel-theory.’ In addition, some of Benjamin’s sentences containing meaningful ideas regarding novels were written as "opposition to“ novels, while the others contain "highly positive evaluations“ on novels, hindering the research. The paper devotes Chapter 2 and 3 to examine Benjamin's two perspectives that can be seen ambivalent at first. In order to add richness and sophistication to the discussion, Chapter 2 will go over Georg Lukács, one of the master of modern and contemporary novel. In chapter 3, the paper will deal with the criticisms on novels that contain Benjamin's own positive evaluation. Finally in Chapter 4, the paper will dispel the suspicion on Benjamin of his ambivalence under comprehensive judgment, and will further suggest the possibility of Benjamin’s novel-theory.