최국철의 『공화국의 후예들』에 나타난 체제 내적 순응과 일탈 양상

Abstract

This study is relation to Choi Guk-cheol( who is a Chinese- Korean Writer)'s Descendants of the Republic (2016), which was mentioned by him as trilogy together with Legend of Gando (1999) and Descendants of the Independance (2010). The purpose of this study is to examine the content and formal characteristics of the work through the character of ordinary persons returning or wandering to the space of Namdaecheon, the author's hometown, and to catch the distancing point from national identity of China even accepting it, and finally to reveal its meaning. To this end, Choi's Descendants of the Republic were analyzed by dividing into internal conformity and deviating aspects on the system in terms of form and content. This will be a prior work to connect Choi's trilogy narratively, which is different from the previous works that have been discussed by returning the work only to the nation and the people. First of all, the work was analyzed by dividing the internal conformity and deviating aspect on the system revealed in Descendants of the Republic into the modern acceptance of national traditions, connection with and distance from the national aesthetics of Joseon. In terms of formality, Choi accepts the novel style of Zhang Hui-che, which was a universal style of Chinese Ming and Qing full-length novels, but distances without revealing personal views or ideologies about past events through the narrator-protagonist transformation. This makes it possible for readers to actively read to find hidden meanings and contradictions inherent in it. In addition, in terms of content, the author guarantees reality by dealing with episodes of ordinary characters such as heroes hidden in each chapter, which can also be read as similarity to North Korean literature in the 1980's. Meanwhile, Choi reveals similarities with south and north korean literature through his works due to the peculiarity of the Chinese-Korean, but catches the various causes of value conflict to transcend the state and the nation after reform and market economy in the space of Namdaecheon, his hometown, and focuses on the diverse identity which is newly-composed in Namdaecheon. This point is read as showing Choi's attempt to transcend the nation and the people by creating a space called Namdaecheon through Descendants of the Republic and seeking a new identity in it. Therefore, this specific study on Choi's Descendants of the Republic not only gives an opportunity to understand the complex and peculiar situation of the Chinese-Korean but also gives a glimpse of the prospect of going beyond the previous literary imagination returned only to the nation and the people.