속리산권역 우복동 이상향의 문화사적 의의와 한계

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to clarify the cultural significance and limit of the legend of Ubok-dong, an utopian village in Mt. Songnisan region which has been of popular interest since the mid-Choseon period. Ubok-dong has been recorded and described as a representative of Korean traditional forestal utopia along with Cheonghak-dong in Mt. Jirisan. Most of the old documents tend to idealistically signalize the images of the optimal ‘refuge’ and ‘fertile land’ which Ubok-dong shares with Cheonghak-dong. According to them, Ubok-dong seems to have been widely known as a ‘hidden fertile land without any disturbing worldly affairs’ to the intellectuals and the masses of the Choseon period just like Cheonghak-dong. In short, Ubok-dong has been generally regarded as an earthly paradise of peace and richness with the deeply hidden geographical position and the ideal agricultural condition. But for a few reasons we cannot believe that Ubok-dong as such an ideal forestal settlement has ever really existed somewhere in Mt. Songnisan region. Therefore, Ubok-dong utopia viewed from a cultural-historical perspective has both a positive significance that it was the only ‘emancipating land’ of which the helpless masses of the Choseon period could dream and a negative limit that it was nevertheless a merely ‘fantastic’ one. So I think that the rural villages in Mt. Songnisan region called ‘Ubok-dong’ should make a progressive effort to sublate the current regressive ‘legend marketing’ and transform themselves into the literally ‘paradisiacal’ communities of peace and richness in order to recover their lost utopian aura. And their inhabitants should determine jointly and carefully what ethical, aesthetic and cultural values and common goods they must embody in their communities, and what sort of sense of belonging and self-identity they want to have in common.