이태준 장편 소설과 계몽의 젠더 전략-1930년대 애정 갈등 소설의 서사 구조 분석을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper proposes to read Lee Tae-joon’s novels in the 1930s with the narrative of enlightenment of a female nationalist. Until now, it has been generally understood that Lee Tae-joon’s novels deal with women’s romantic conflicts to attract popular interest. This seems to be because the female discourse of Lee Tae-joon’s novels was only considered to be used as a narrative device to connect popularity and enlightenment, rather than being directly related to the awakening of one’s sense of nationalism. This paper discusses that the two factors actually existed in the single structure of ‘Women’s nationalistic enlightenment narrative’ from the beginning. This is because, unlike the general perception that the women in Lee Tae-joon’s novels were portrayed as passive characters designed to convey popular interest and the logic of enlightenment, they actively drive the narrative through conflicts between their personal desires and public values. By reorienting the female characters as independent beings, it is possible to grasp the narrative principles behind popular love triangles that often appear in Lee Tae-joon’s long novels. Chapter 2 examines Lee Tae-joon’s early novels, “An Old Statue of Woman(『구원의 여상』)” and “An Immortal Cry(『불멸의 함성』).” Unlike other novels where the sacrifice of a female character serves as an opportunity for male characters to seek forgiveness or repentance, Lee Tae-joon’s novels distinguish the sacrifices made for men and those made for the nation, and in some cases, they are even depicted as opposing elements. Through the moral determination of the female characters in the two novels, women who have lost their chastity are returned to society. Through this, they fully expose the imprudence of the men who allured them sexually. The novelist sends sympathy toward the women who have lost their chastity, and goes even further to build a unique structure that equates sacrifice for a single woman to devotion for the entire nation. Through an analysis of “A Sacred Mother(『성모』)” and “A Flower Crown(『화관』),” Chapter 3 examines how, in Lee Tae-joon’s novels, the legitimacy of the vocalization of female characters in society stems from their own morality. The traditional discourse that Lee Tae-joon aims to counter is portrayed with male characters who have lost their rationality and legitimacy, and equates their discourse with nothing but sexual allurement. On the other hand, female characters are given the moral legitimacy based on their continuous commitment toward society. They regard themselves as ‘psychological orphans,’ as daughters whose older-generation parents do not understand. And in order to help the women of later generations can escape the same state of ‘psychological orphan’, they take up the roles of a mother in “A Sacred Mother” and an educator in “A Flower Crown.” Through the narrative of education and care that runs from the current generation of women to the next, Lee Tae-joon depicts how commitment to one’s nation and the benefits from it that circulate in the female world.