18세기 지식인의 공간인식과 심상지리 - 申光洙의 『驪江錄』을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study presents an investigation into the spatial perception and mental geography of Seokbuk Shin Gwang-su, an 18th-century intellectual, based on his Yeogangrok. Shin was a Namin intellectual that experienced frustrations from the political reality of Joseon in the 18th century. With his frustrations with the political reality of Joseon in those days and his experiences and eyewitness accounts with "Yeogang" of Yeoju in the cultural geography of the times, he beautified it as a place of his own in different meaning from the old literary works. It was a re-discovery of "Yeogang" of Yeoju and an 18th-century intellectual's conscious place-making. To the Namin intellectuals who were alienated in the 18th century,nature including the mountains and waters was a place where they could shed off their mental conflicts and contradictions and pursue balance and harmony. "Yeogang," which was born out the conscious place-making of Shin Gwang-su,an 18th-century intellectual, was a "place of communication" where he could share his pent-up rage derived from his situations with his friends and exchange with nature. Experiencing his social status limitations fully, he promoted poetry by making an excursion to mountains and rivers with his close friends and resolved his internal agony. In addition, he maintained academic consensus with his fellow members, continuing to have social intercourse with them. Thus Yeogang of Yeoju and the waterway of Han River described in his poetry were mental places where he would resolve his realistic frustrations derived from his political alienation and attempt to approach the center. Yeogang of Yeoju was the nature containing mountains and waters he would explore for excursion and experience on the surface and the domain of realistic politics where his spatial perception, which was represented by Gamyeoseol, was embodied on a deeper level. The waterway of Han River was a gateway to it.