해부(解剖)와 허언(虛言) : 염상섭 소설과 근대 생명정치의 한 기원

Abstract

In the novel A Green Frog in the Specimen Room by Yeom, Sangseop, one image which symbolizes the inner side of intellectual at the age of the Japanese colonial period appears. This image is a shape of a living organism that was dissected. The inner side of X is connected with the dissected frog on the one hand and a madman named Kim, Changeok on the other hand. At least to X, Kim, Changeok, gone out of his mind, and this dissected frog were regarded as an effective symbol which represented the existential crisis of his generation. In order not to be degenerated into a living thing that is laid bare his identity, with not abandoning his faith, there would be no other way but to cover up his inner side thoroughly. In this sense, one question for us that was raised by only one image described in the A Green Frog in the Specimen Room is as follows. How one can conceal his or her inner side? This question has been a talking point in the novels of Yeom, Sangseop since the March 1st Independence Movement. Therefore, the dissected frog can be regarded as a fundamental image which passed through Yeom’s literature during the Japanese Colonialism, as well as in the novel A Green Frog in the Specimen Room. In short, ‘the anatomical representation’ which is consistent within his literature during the Colonialism is the very important effect which the March 1st Independence Movement has on the modern literature.