2010년대 이후 장애 여성 소설에 나타난 자기 돌봄의 정치성 – 김미선, 공선옥, 김초엽을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze that novels about disabled women by Kim Mi-seon, Gong Seon-ok, and Kim Cho-yeop, which appeared before and after feminism reboot in the 2010s, go beyond the existence of disabled women, who were defined as an asexual object, a body containing historical pain of the nation, and a place of tragedy, by pursuing ‘self-care.’ Here, self-care is different from self-development or narcissism. Self-care means to take care of one’s own desires that is not respected by society, requiring oneself to be the object of care within the relationship, and choosing a way of life for oneself out of the state or social care system. Therefore, it is the basis for transforming existing thinking about disability and building a community of fragile care. Self-care has a political nature that transforms the existing non-disability-centric thinking to respect vulnerable individuals. First of all, in her 『Bus Driver』, Kim Miseon criticizes the ‘feminine care’ that turns a disabled woman into an asexual object and develops a disabled man into a capable worker. Resistant self-care appears in the sense that self-affirmation is achieved against the limitations imposed on disabled women based on ‘self-narrative’. In the “Where did that Song Come from” by Gong Seon-ok, disability and non-disability break away from the benevolent relationship as a non-disabled woman, who is assumed to be the subject of care, recognizes that she also need to be an object of care. As self-care becomes possible, vulnerable beings become interdependently connected, and as a result, a disabled woman becomes both a member of the village women’s community and other person to be worshiped. Lastly, Kim Cho-yeop’s novel, “Mremosa” emphasizes that we must respect the way of life that disabled people choose based on their personal experiences. In this novel, by practicing self-care, non-humans and humans are connected, and ‘becoming-together’, forming relationships so that they can get along well with each other, becomes possible. In this way, the hierarchy between disabled and non-disabled was dismantled, and the logic of violent healing could be criticized.