톨스토이의 「산림벌채」와 「세 죽음」에서나무의 모티브

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze a motive of a tree that was indicated in the medium length novel titled “Forest Felling: Cadet's Story”(1855) and the short story titled “Three Deaths”(1859) out of Tolstoy's early literary works. In the medium length novel “Forest Felling”, the death of Velenzug who is a main character in a work will be examined in connection with an issue of cutting down a tree. And in the short story “Three Deaths”, the deaths of diverse ecological creatures, which have a similar character to the death of Fraxinus rhynchophylla, are comparatively analyzed on the basis of intertextuality, escaping from the existing anthropocentrism-based interpretation on this work. A tree in “Forest Felling” is thoroughly otherized in a speaker's consciousness, thereby being recognized as an element of forming the background of a case or being regarded as a material means of being used for the practical objective. Meanwhile, it is not only used as a symbolic mechanism of foretelling a human being's upcoming death and but also utilized as a medium of recalling a memory or as a mechanism of expressing an emotional change in the inside of a human being. A tree is seen, too, as an existence in ecosystem that is recklessly destroyed and 214 문학과 환경 15권 4호sacrificed corresponding to one person's pitiable death, which is caused in an anti-ethical and anti-ecological situation dubbed a war. However, a conflictual problem between a human being and ecosystem is not addressed so seriously in this work. Compared to this, a tree in “Three Deaths” that was written in the late 1850s is perceived as a living thing equivalent to a human existence, thereby having the status as the higher dimensional existence. As the theme titled “Three Deaths” well shows, it can be known to put two human deaths and one tree's death on the same line. In “Three Deaths”, Tolstoy recognizes a tree as an ideal existence of having absolute value and as a symbolic icon of the highest goodness. To inquire a little more deeply a meaning that a tree has, this study chose the medium length story “Forest Felling” & the short story “Prunus padus”, and the medium length story “Kholstomer” as the subjects of the comparative analysis as the works of being appeared the existences, which are killed in a situation similar to it. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, Prunus padus in “Three Deaths” and Velenzug in “Forest Felling”, which had been constantly peaceful even in front of the wrongful death, are the existences that show sacrifice, honesty, and altruism, which are the spiritual value of transcending death. Also, these characters stand for Tolstoy's thoughts of nonviolent resistance and pacifism by obeying own destiny peacefully without resisting death. Second, in the short story “Prunus padus”, the death of Prunus padus is what was reflected Tolstoy's ecological consciousness from the perspective of destroying the ecosystem. On the other hand, “Three Deaths” is a work of being embossed more strongly an author's philosophical reason about life and death. Finally, in a comparative analysis between “Three Deaths” and “Kholstomer”, the leading characters in two 톨스토이의 「산림벌채」와 「세 죽음」에서 나무의 모티브 215 works are mutually different in species as plant and animal, but show life of completely sacrificing and devoting oneself for other existences, thereby delivering a message on which life a human being needs to make. Through a comparative analysis of these works, the base of Tolstoy's antiwar ideology, principle of nonviolent non-resistance, and thought of pacifism is underlain the philosophical reason on life and death, the ethical consciousness of existence, and the ecological thought in all the living things of this world such as plants and animals including human beings. In this way, Tolstoy's thought had directly and indirectly great influence upon deep ecology that is established in the 20th century.