“달과 별이 없어도 밝은 밤”-한센병의 감각과 증언

Abstract

Disease changes the body's senses. The diseased body senses and reason differently than before. Disease becomes a new condition to recognize the body, things, nature, time, space, etc. In this article, we read the autobiographical records of the Hansen people as testimony of the body written with the sense of Hansen's disease, and look at how they speak and write their feelings and thoughts. Hansen's autobiographical record is a testimony that overlaps experiences, memories, autobiographies and fiction. It is intertwined with the memories and perceptions of the general public as well as Hansen. Hansen's autobiographical record is also a confession of Hansen's existential reflection and questions before it is a historical testimony. From a perspective that values the realism and historicality of testimony, Hansen's senses, emotions and images are extremely personal and can be considered trivial. However, the thought and expressed things with the sense of Hansen's disease supplement the margin of the testimonies. Hansen, how do you feel and think about diseases, bodies, things and places? How does the sense of Hansen's disease image, imagine, and represent the body and the world? Through these questions, we could read and reveal the self-identity of the Hansen people, as well as other uses of the senses, such as emotional disconnection and changes in family, hometown, and love after suffering from Hansen's disease, solitude and anxiety.