이병주의 중․단편소설을 통해 바라본 ‘회색의 사상’ -‘법과 제도에 대한 서사’를 중심으로

Abstract

Studies about Lee Byung-joo’s novels focused on the way he expressed his “gray thought”; however, rarely did those studies reflect how the system of law enforcement and social rules are expressed in his works. This study reinstates Lee’s gray thought with the emphasis on how that system is reflected in four of his novels, “Novel Alexandria,” “Mourning of Geoneon,” “Vanity of Passion,” and “An Article Written in Sorrow to the Deceased for the Terrorist.” Lee has an ambivalent attitude towards the system of law enforcement and social rules: he doubts its necessity while he stresses it at the same time. His attitude is embodied in various plots and characters. His trust on the system relies on its power to ensure people’s freedom and equality while he warns that we should keep it from suppressing people. Lee suggests the agora where people gather and share ideas as anti-violent way to overcome the law and system’s limits. In his works, the violence of that social system as well as resistance against it (counter-resistance) appear; they prevent from opening the place where people share ideas. However, Lee does not object to that social system. Rather, he argues that place can be arranged and sustained only by the system of law enforcement and social rule so that it secures individuality of people. Consequently, this study contributes to the idea that Lee’s gray thinking not only means “becoming neutral” but also strengthens the important of morality.