한국 현대소설의 생태적 가능성 ― 조세희의 『난장이가 쏘아올린 작은 공』을 중심으로

Abstract

This study analyzes Korean modern novels that depict ecological problems and express reflections on them. As in the literature of Europe and the U.S., the ecology motif has become commonplace in Korean literature since the 1970s. Poems started to raise environmental issues from the 1970s but it was only after the 1980s that poets actively created their work with the motif. Meanwhile, narratives joined this trend a bit later; it was from the 1990s that fiction deeply centered on ecology became noticeable. Korean works of modern fiction, however, were published from the mid-1970s, and some had already reached with contemplation the highest level in literature. A Small Ball Shot Up by a Dwarf written by Jo Sehui in 1975 is the most exemplary novel among them. The story depicts the destruction of the environment inevitably caused by the highly industrialized Korean society in the 1970s. At the same time, it is possible to read the story from the literary ecological point of view since it includes a deeper ecological awareness of the confrontation among different classes and extreme isolation. This book accusingly presents the severe reality brought by environmental destruction in Korean society at the time. Likewise, since the story characterizes women who were oppressed and victimized by men, it is also feasible to analyze the story from the viewpoint of ecological feminism. Furthermore, if the reader focuses on the human nature of dominance masked in the confrontation among classes and economic disparity, it is viable to analyze the fiction from the social ecological viewpoint. Thus, A Small Ball Shot Up by a Dwarf can be analyzed on multiple layers from a variety of literary ecological points of view. This study reviews the author’s reflections on ecology implied in the narration of A Small Ball Shot Up by a Dwarf.