오정희 소설의 장애 표상 연구

Abstract

This thesis aims to identify the logic behind disability representation in Oh Jung-hee’s(吳貞姬, 1947~) novels and examine its effects. Driven by the issue that existing critical discussions have not sufficiently explained the logic and function of disability representation in the novels’ narrative, this thesis revisits various representations of disabilities in Oh’s novels in the context of the dynamic relationship between non-disabled subjects and objects with disabilities. In Oh’s novels, disability is represented through the perspective of a non-disabled narrator observing a disabled object. The object’s “extraordinary body” is portrayed as a fantastical mirror that vicariously relieves the narrator’s excessive desire. Oh Jung-hee’s early works repeat a pattern of objectification that portrays the disabled body as phenomenal, demonic, and shamanic. This pattern can be schematized as a narrative that progresses through (1) projection, (2) disability experience, and (3) return to reality. This thesis demonstrates that the narrative pattern, which operates through objectified representations of disability, supports the unique architectural structure of Oh Jung-hee’s novels. On the other hand, this thesis also focuses on the diachronic process through which the representation of disability in Oh’s novels breaks away from its objectified coordinates and gains a realistic three-dimensionality, due to the “aesthetic nervousness” it casts on the novel. Oh’s novel oscillates between a problematic gaze that objectifies the disabled body and a reflective gaze that critically examines such attraction. This thesis traces how the author’s reflective self-awareness of the “novelization/objectification” mechanism, in general, has been deepened, using the changing representations of disability in Oh’s novels as touchstones. Oh’s narrative schema was fundamentally eroded by the reality of disability, which cannot be subordinated to the mechanisms of objectification. As the author’s self-awareness of the violence of objectification deepened, the novel’s narrative pattern revolving around the representation of disability was completely rearranged. This triggered severe aesthetic crises for Oh Jung-hee in her later years, ultimately leading her to stop writing novels.