김동리 소설에 나타난 신화적 이미지와 공간 -「달」, 「늪」, 「진달래」를 중심으로-

Abstract

Donglee Kim’s The Moon, Swamp, and An Azalea beautifully show the image of the nature that changes according to the cosmic rhythm in relation to the phase of the moon. Donglee Kim is creating a mythical story in which the celestial moon and the terrestrial humans mix together. In The Moon appears the main character as a lunar animal that pursues the imagination of cyclical creation in accord with manifestation of the moon. The other characters are described as alter egos of the protagonist á la the principle of isomorphic mapping which bespeaks mythisches Denken. What is learned through the mythical image in The Moon is that the death of Dal-i is not mere disappearance, but it fulfilled an ontological conversion in the circular structure of periodical regeneration with moon-water-snake-death. In Swamp, the image of dead water is transformed into a vegetal image. This again turns into the image of fire in mind, which forms the image of death that returns to the matrix. In the case of An Azalea, the story of a person who ate flowers and drowned in the flowers comes in an isomorphic mapping with Swamp via the mythical image. The act of eating flowers means concurrence with the departed mother, and the death of the heroine Seonghye signifies withdrawal into the mythical world by withdrawing the vegetablized image of fire into the inside of herself. These three works of Kim’s share a variety of mythical motifs and produce a similar mythical space. The child of a mythical character is characterized by bisexuality, whereby s/he runs into death in an obsession with mother or in an incestuous relationship. This death appears as movement to a sacred space. The spatial movements of the characters in the three works are alike in that they are of a structure descending toward the boundary space that is portrayed as a mythical image. The descending composition into the inner side is withdrawal into the space of Jonah in all the three works. Donglee Kim shows materialistic imagination that mitigates the descent, based on diverse mythical images and the technique of duplication and overturn.