표상으로서의 망국사 이야기-식민지 후반기 역사극에 나타난 민족담론과 식민담론의 문제-

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to re-interpretate the Korean historical plays of the later colonial period which were interpreted as a manifestation of national consciousness(the discourse of nationalism) or a representation of colonialist conspiracy(the discourse of colonialism) with several keys words, 'discourse of the oriental’, 'Koreanness', and 'imperial subjectivity'. The flourishing period of historical play had continued during the later colonial Korea period since a playwright Yoo Chi-jin wrote historical drama Gaegolsan(the Crown Prince Mayi)(1937-38). For this time, many historical plays were published or performed in colonial Korea, not only by Yoo Chi-jin but also by another playwrights, Ham Se-duck, Song Young, Yim Sun-kyu, and so on. There were Yoo Chi-jin's Gaegolsan(Gaegol mountain) and Ham Se-duck's Nakhwaam(Nakhwa cliff) as the most representative historical plays of this period. At that time, the authors of these works wrote these historical plays by influences of the discourse of the oriental(toyo), which was Japanese colonialist discourse that Japan centered the orient society should overcome the modern western society. And then, the discourse of the oriental(toyo) had the characteristics which contained the anti-modernity and anti-western society, so the discourse attached importance to the value of 'the oriental things', for example, the tradition, the historical narrative(the past), the province(birthplace), the classics, the folk-customs. Therefore, at that time colonial Korean readers and spectators of historical plays thought that the historical plays represented national consciousness and the authors pretended to manifest the affection for nation in their plays. But the playwrights of historical plays at that time were latenly infected with Japanese colonialist discourse because of constructing themselves imperial subjectivity's desire. So, their historical plays contained the ambivalence and the interstice of the national discourse and the colonialist discourse.