노동문학을 넘어 일상적 노동의 회복으로

Abstract

The 1980s was an era of labor literature. The literature exposed the undue suppression on laborers and desire humane lives. The laborers also wrote their own stories to improve the working conditions and achieve better lives. Critics at the time assigned crucial roles and values to labor literature such as human liberation, realization of democracy and overcoming the division. However, the heat for labor literature vanished in an instant along with the changes in international situations during the early 1990s. In this research, I assume that the value of labor which was pursued by labor literature is still valid and examine how it has been changed. As such, I intent to restore the power that assembled the laborers in the past and encouraged them to fight for the common goal. The purpose is to establish a fence to protect the laborers in the modern society from the despair and anxiety. The laborers appeared in labor literature desired to improve their lives, rethink about class consciousness, and achieve equal relationships. However, this desire is limited that modern laborers cannot band together. The purpose of a better life was economic stabilization. The equality awareness of laborers made the laborers to desire for a standard of living of the ruling class. Therefore, the preference of laborers such as “Soju” and “Trot” reflected the desperate and painful feelings of laborers. Consequently, the laborers wanted to escape from the reality if their economic conditions are improved. After the labor movement, the reality of laborers in Korea is miserable. The economism made every effort and passion to be quantified as profits. The westernized education turned the values of the past generation into something old and obsolete. People started to not believe anything after every type of authorities was dissolved. Instead, they rely on the authorities of a strong nation and believe that only family is safe. Today, only the nation and family are left and it is crucial to restore the common sensation which can connect the fragmented individuals. Labor is an activity that every person experiences ever since the birth of human beings. Before the labor movement, people were routinely engaged in labor. They experienced the society through labor and created the principles and orders based on their needs and demands. Younghan Park’s novel reproduced the aesthetics of farmers’ daily lives. The weakness and despair they experienced before the advent of a new era made them help each other. The solidarity demonstrated in Younghan Park’s novel was poor people’s daily lives and conventional norms. Therefore, the solidarity of laborers is possible only by the “power of enduring” “together”, instead of escaping from the poor and miserable reality.