한국 현대 소설에 나타난 다수(多數) - 1950〜1970년대 소설 속 다수 이미지를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper examines the characteristics of Korean novels of the 1950s to the 1970s based on the image of the multiple represented in them. In order to do so, a relationship diagram of characters in selected novels by four authors is developed. This reveals that the novels of this period offered a wide spectrum of portrayals of the multiple, ranging from the positive to the negative, from the vive-ridden to the virtuous. In Son Chang-sup’s novel, the masses are characterized as “the thriving of death” on a dying body. This image demonstrates that life is intensely vulnerable to death in the aftermath of war, and the psychological and physical disabilities depicted reflect the coexistence of the two. In Chang Yong-hak’s novel, the masses undergo lives of lethargy, meaninglessness, and stasis, which are depicted as “dominated lives”. However, while the motif of incest is used to express violence and vice, it later symbolizes resistance and love. Specifically, it expands in significance to encompass a resistance to the subjugation of the corrupted masses. In Kim Seung-ok’s novel, the masses are described as a den of snakes or as a conflagration. They are an avaricious group that harms the marginalized members of the family, (specifically the protagonist's sister or goat figuratively). To a powerless, adolescent boy, the masses are seen as residents of hell who not only hurt those who are weaker, but also devour each other. In Cho Se-hui’s novel, the working class portrayed as a school of stickleback, representing the faction of the working class that appear terrifying in the eyes of capitalists. According to the logic of the capitalists, the masses do not show gratitude to their benefactors, and harbor murderous intent beneath their ungainly appearances.