김사량의 「향수」에 나타난 세 가지 향수(鄕愁)

Abstract

This paper aims to review the political meaning of the nostalgia expressed in ‘Nostalgia’ of Saryang Kim. Nostalgia in this work does not just appear in certain scenes but is the center of the work that is closely related to the basic theme. Nostalgia here has the basic nature as the sentiment that originated from the embarrassment about ‘now-here’ and as the idealized and romanticized fantasy that fills vacancy. Sangryul Ok and Gaya can be called inverse reflections in mirror. Sangryul Ok tried to take ‘human’ giving up ‘ideology’ but lost both, while Gaya tried to take ‘ideology’ abandoning ‘human’ but lost both of them. However, we should notice that they tried their best to keep one of the values that they cherish between ‘human’ and ‘ideology’. What is noteworthy is that both Sangryul Ok and Gaya can feel nostalgia, which is the power to keep the least amount of conscientiousness for people living in Beijing. It is because nostalgia originally contains criticism and negativity about the present through the longing for harmony that is imagined to have existed in the idealistic past, and also shows desire for the future. In order to fully clarify the nostalgia expressed in ‘Nostalgia’, the nostalgia of Hyun Lee, the main character and fixed focus of the work, should be expressed. For Hyun Lee, ‘the past art heritage of Joseon’ and the ‘older sister’ was the objects of nostalgia. Between the two, the more important was the nostalgia about his sister, through which he wanted to find the direction of new life. However, unlike sister Gaya and Sangryul Ok he met in Beijing, who held on to the value of ‘ideology’ and ‘human’ and tried to overcome the mess of the era, he denigrated to a being that proved ‘ideology’ and ‘human’ cannot be pursued in the time period. Under these circumstances, Hyun Lee newly establishes ethnic identity through the value, ‘culture’, which is symbolized by pottery and can absorb the shock he received from his sister. Through this, Hyun Lee gets out of identity crisis and is reborn as a “great person in East Asia and in the world”(192). Hyun Lee’s effort to survive the strict and dark time of the late Japanese colonial era through the value of ‘culture’, not ‘ideology’ or ‘culture’, can be applied to author, Saryang Kim, when considering various circumstances. The political meaning of nostalgia expressed in ‘Nostalgia’ has Beijing in the similar period as its background, and the main characters of the work, when compared to ‘This Atmosphere’ of Biseok Jeong, which shows a response related to nostalgia, show clearer meanings. The main character, Jijoon Kim in ‘This Atmosphere’ thoroughly refuses nostalgia and this leads to his blind and thoughtless support for the Sino-Japanese War and the new system established in Beijing. This attitude of Jijoon Kim is in stark contrast to the characters in ‘Nostalgia’ who feel nostalgia in their struggle to maintain their values.