트라우마 극복으로서의 소설쓰기 - 서정인 소설의 죽음 의식을 중심으로

Abstract

The shotting scenes and the dead bodies during Yeosun Event came as a great shock to Seo Jeong-in. It couldn't leave his mind and became a catalyst for the 'trauma' as a form of abstract death. We can track it from his early novels through the thoughts concerning death. After this, he suddenly got diagnosed with moderate degree pulmonary tuberculosis. Thus, he did come to realize the upcoming death of himself and 'pulmonary tuberculosis' became the real trauma to him joined with the past memory, as more concrete form of death. Pulmonary tuberculosis meant the world after death which made him feel scared of dying. However we can recognize the fact through the character, that he regained his composure and got over the fear against death while treating cancer. On the other hand, Seo Jeong-in brings to a conclusion that 'Every death is the same' admitting the mortality of humankind by the sort of surrogate self. Seo Jeong-in also shows off his feeling life isn't different from death giving the doctrine of reincarnation as the reason. Therefore we can say that "Death is not the ending but a new start.". or, the tuberculosis Seo Jeong-in underwent became an important talking point of 'self-discovery', which has lead him to realize the original limit of death and be more relaxed about the day-to-day desires, though it was a trauma at first. In the epic stories regarding disease Seo Jeong-in arises frustration and outpours the desperate feelings towards health, having the surrogate self act on behalf of him. We can consider this as his will to relieve his fear by making the characters experience and overcome the trauma of his own. In addition he didn't give change to the series of his works, prose and remarks, and this is his coherent sense of literature that turns the epic story to literary works in an aesthetic way.