“미공개된 사실”-한센병 환자 심전황의 『소록도 반세기(小鹿島 半世紀)』

Abstract

Shim Jeon-hwang(沈田潢), a patient with Hansen’s disease, published 53 articles titled Half a Century of Sorok Island in the ‘Leprosy Enlightenment Magazine’ The Vision. This record was included in a magazine from December 1970 to September 1975 and then published as a book with the same title at Cheonnam Maeil Publishing House in 1979. Half a Century of Sorok Island[小鹿島 半世紀, 1979] contains various traces of patients, doctors, nurses, religious people, and cultural artists who lived in Sorokdo/hospital, as well as academic experts, politicians, and domestic and foreign medical officials who visited Sorokdo/Hospital. Half a Century of Sorok Island is a history book based on the autobiographical disease experience of the ‘patient’ Shim Jeon-hwang. It has a character close to Han Ha-un’s My Sad Half-Life Story[나의 슬픈 半生記](1958). After describing the ‘incident’ that occurred, he added a ‘story’ related to it to vividly show the life history of Hansen’s patients, which was not well revealed in historical records. Among the views on the origin and background of the establishment of Sorokdo Hospital recorded in the Sorokdo History Books, it is difficult to determine which one is closer to the ‘historical fact.’ The origin of Sorokdo Hospital flickers as if light and darkness intersect according to the perspective of the recording subject. It is fascinating that the term “Aboriginal(Native)” is used differently in several records. By placing historical records, including Half a Century of Sorok Island, in a ‘dialogue relationship,’ the identification and difference can be revealed by introducing a remarking method between texts. Half a Century of Sorok Island is read as an attempt to portray changes in place names inside Sorok Island, changes in facility names, and division of the “borderline” were carefully observed. In the meantime, this paper questions again the dichotomous’ boundary(s)’ operating inside/outside Sorok Island. “Borderline” meant a sign pointing to a physical place and an unconscious and psychological boundary derived from multi-layered conflicts. The meaning of the boundary line is divided in various ways. The “Sorokdo Literary Room” connects the inside and outside of Sorok Island and takes its place as a space leading the leprosy enlightenment movement. For Hansen’s Disease Patients who moved to Japan after liberation, examining how Half a Century of Sorok Island has been remembered/recorded between history and stories is an intriguing task. In Half a Century of Sorok Island, “Undisclosed Facts” will be newly added and supplemented. ‘Half a Century of Sorok Island’ is still a history in progress that is being memorized/recorded.