김원일의 『슬픈 시간의 기억』에 나타난 노년 서사의 서술되는 기억과 망각되는 시간

Abstract

Kim Won-il’s “Memories of Sad Time” is a series of novellas with four old men as a focalizer of each novella. These four old men have lived in the modern and contemporary society, including during the Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War. They have symptoms of a disease and are approaching death. In the beginning of the story, they show a desire to reorganize their own memories depending on their present perception, but as death approaches them, they reveal their subconscious memories as fragments. In that process, the time and experiences that were rather forgotten because of the consistent description of memory are expressed. However, the past cannot be revealed to the outside but is forgotten in that they are old and alienated from the society and that they eventually face death. The aspect of how the old characters describe and forget themselves and their memories is related to the way our society remembers and suppresses history. In addition, it implies different aspects of the problems of the aged in the modern society—how they become forgotten and extinct, and live in isolation, along with historical memories. This study investigated the narrative through which these old characters reveal and hide their memories of life and how their recollection is suppressed and expressed, in addition to examining the meaning of this novel as a narrative of the aged.