윤회의 시각으로 본 현대중국: 모옌(莫言)의 『인생은 고달파』를 중심으로

Abstract

“Life and Death are Wearing Me Outl,” which Mo Yan chose as his representative work after winning the Nobel Prize, is the story of three generations of people, covering from land reforms to policy reforms in Ximen Village in Shandong Province. This work is written as a narrative using the reincarnation as the overall structure and reincarnation is categorized to small and great. The small reincarnation is a six-level reincarnation, during which Xi Menniao is transfigured from a human to an animal. In contrast, the great reincarnation represents the transition of a number of factors, including changes in the production system via land reforms, e.g. from private to public ownership; the sentiment between humans and land; and the relationships between humans. In this aspect, reincarnation can be considered not only to represent the meaning of land reforms but also the relationship between humanity and land. The great reincarnation includes the small reincarnation, and the small reincarnation becomes a part of the great reincarnation. Consequently, this novel of Mo Yan depicts national history through a closer look of an individual and his village. During the later half of 20th century, the history of rural China is a tragic time of transition, discontinuity of policies and repetition. The reason for such tragedy is the aftermath of class division and its reper- cusssions. Mo Yan was deeply aware of the tragic history and used a unique narrative style. In this work, history is not the main theme; instead it is a ghostly figure redrawn by the quality of the language used. However, no matter how humane and humorous he deals with history, Mo Yan maintains the basic framework of the justice in history, human justice, and the definition of humanity. Perhaps Mo Yan himself was well cognizant of his world view on the preservation of the history and the values of human justice so he had to use humor and satire to hide his strong criticsms.