사회, 정치적 그리고 문학적 역학구도 속에서 허만 멜빌의『마디』읽기

Abstract

Herman Melville’s Mardi is regarded as “open text” which implies infinite interpretation is possible. Consideration of literature as a field of social science, and recognition of the social function of literature makes the reading of literature in society possible. This paper attempts to investigate the relationship between art and society by penetrating the cohesion between the inner meaning and outer presentation of the text, on the basis of work’s intertextuality. The reading of Mardi according to social, political and literary dynamics reveals Melville’s main concerns with mid-19th century society. Melville, who was in the center of the social and political scene at that time, uses Mardi as a strategy representing the political situation at that time. The Vivenza episode in Mardi is representative of political allegory, and plays an important role in fulfilling Melville’s intention to express his satirical view of mid-19th century society and furthermore, on the future American society. Making an allusion to Lombardo, an epic poet, who completed ‘Koztanza,’ proves that Melville views the birth of national literature showing America’s own national identity from an optimistic light.