과도(過渡)의 공간, 그 신화적 원형과 서사적 변주

Abstract

Mythology is the narrative symbolism about cosmogony. The cosmogonic scenario is concerned with the transition from chaos to cosmos. In the mythic chaotic period (in illo temporo), time has no conception, and only the concepts of space are available. The creation of cosmos is equivalent to the creation of space, and the mythos of cosmogony is an archetype of the narrative of space. The phase of cosmogonic space implies transitional condition, namely liminality. The liminal period in the rites of passage is critical term for the subjects of initiation. The neophytes experience the confusion of identity close to the mythic chaos. The ritual liminality is the symbolic reformation of the cosmic chaos. The transitional spatiality is an essential quality of the narratives on metamorphoses. It is transfigured to the various narrative motives relative to the chaotic conditions of hero or heroine. The variations of the archetype of cosmic liminal space are the outstanding features of the repetitive reconstitutions of mythological symbolism. This paper is on the archetype and transfigurations of the transitional space implied in cosmogonic mythology. I investigate Korean mythoi, ritual, performance, and various contemporary novels to demonstrate the cultural and narrative symbolisms of the cosmic liminal space.