섭생의 정치경제와 생태 윤리

Abstract

In this project, I aim to reflect what transformation the stance and perspective of Koreans on the issue of eating and life has gone through for half a century since the Korean War. The representation modes of eating and their ecological ethics are deeply connected to the heart of human life. Since the Korean War, Korea has undergone a dramatic modernization; it has experienced pre-industrialization, industrialization, post-industrialization almost simultaneously for a short period of time. Considering the politico-economic changes of Korea as such, I investigate what characteristics literary imagination reveal throughout the development and what are the ecological ethical features that reside in the imagination. The following three novels are ones of the best examples to illustrate the conditions and situations of the past half-century: The City of Toys by Dong-ha Lee, which describes beautifully the postbellum economic ups and downs; A Little Ball Launched by a Dwarf by Se-hui Cho, which configures the problems of industrialization; and A Vegetarian by Gang Han, which embraces the cultural symptoms of post-industrialization. The City of Toys draws our attention to the lack of love as well as the lack of food. The former is one of the major concerns of ecological ethics whereas the latter is one of the objects of political economy. Compassion and love are significant virtues of ecological ethics that save miserable souls from the abyss of famine and poverty. Mr. Dwarf, the protagonist of A Little Ball Launched by a Dwarf, is an innocent character with the primitive ecological unconsciousness. What he longs for throughout his lifetime is the world filled with love. However, the reality is far from unconditional, unlimited love. For example, the inequality of eating is relevant to the one of class and the unjustness of human society is revealed. The novel puts an emphasis on the ecological ethics of love and sharing, calling for the reflection of the desire to possess that is without love. A Vegetarian by Gang Han seeks a new kind of narrative based on not poverty or class struggles but gender politics and communication. The male social order stressing meat-eating sometimes unveils violence, without the knowledge of plant-based femininity. The author suggests considering from a feminine or plant-based ethical perspective the complexity of issues brought up in the middle of the violence, ignorance and failed communication. The matter of eating is a representational sign changing over time and history but it is constant in terms of ecological ethics. Love and care, and compassion and sympathy are the power of that continuity, which ecological ethics and literature have shared in common for a long time.