신경숙 단편소설에 나타난 생태적 사유와 글쓰기

Abstract

On the idea that the ecological consciousness found in the short stories by Shin Gyeong-suk works to expand the horizon of interpreting her novels, this study set out to examine the aspects of "ecological consciousness" in her writing. The ecological consciousness in her novels demands attention in that it is closely related to one's native place. She clearly prefers "native place" to "hometown" in sentences the two are interchangeable. The word gives some hints about the ecological consciousness in her novels. A native place is a place of independence, as well. It also has a strong significance that no other places can replace it. In the word of "native place," the author describes the relationships of my body to the mother through the umbilical cord and its relationships to the land where the umbilical cord is buried in a vivid and direct fashion. Thus the narrator or the author makes her relationships with her blood relatives and land closer and more eternal, sometimes raising them to the level of myth. When choosing "native place" over hometown, one creates an affection for the fixed place. The aspects of ecological consciousness in her novels express becoming a mother, dignity of life, spirituality, and physical intimacy and pursue the world of communication. Her works always go side by side with "hatching of the bird(animal)" when the topic is "becoming a mother" or "dignity of life." Thus the objects of dignity and caring of life expand to include all things that have "life" including plants and animals beyond one's flesh and blood, children of others, and people. On the other hand, when the hometown loses its image as a paradise due to the influences of city civilization, ecological imagination contributes to the demonstration of severed relationships while showing the heartlessness of city civilization.