‘착한’ 돈과 윤리적 사회, ‘부자’를 보는 문학적 시선 - 구비설화에 나타난 ‘돈/ 부자’ 담론의 서사 논리와 문학적 상상

Abstract

This paper analyzed Korean cognition and cultural basis on the ‘money’ and ‘rich people’ that were narrated in Korean folk tales. Lots of folk tales shows the rich people’s unique manner of life, ability, sense of values, and special experience of good luck. Such narratives result from the view point that the rich people are different from the common people in points of personality, temperament, and fortune. In some stories relating with ‘becoming of rich people’, contingency works as the most influential element. In such stories reflect some view point that the rich is related with a chance factor and only luck people can obtain that opportunity. There are premised the point of view of envy and resign to the fate in these stories. In folk tales, there are antagonistic relationship between the rich and the poor, as it were, the good poor and the bad rich. However, there are also exist the winning stories on the decisive poor people against the corrupted rich people, and symbiotic relationship between the both. These narratives show that there are multi-vision on the money and the rich people, and the imagination of narratives wasn’t controled by the moral and ethics, but have some tendency that are going to recognize the desire on money and the physiology of money itself as a reality. The audience of folk tales were magnanimous to the poor people’s lie and trick, but strict to the rich people’s greedy. They demanded the economical ethics to the wealthy person and regarded the redistribution of wealth as goodness. There are three discourses on ‘money/wealthy’ in folk taled; ethics, windfall and labor discourse. The first, ‘ethics stories’ are premised the idea that only the good people can get the lucky opportunity to be rich. The rich people don’t have any special sense of wealth, nor economical management ability, but only the moral people can be a man of wealth. Such ideas show the ununderstanding view point on the physiology of money or economical logic, and also show the expectation of ethical world which give the opportunity of being rich only to the moral persons. The second, ‘windfall stories’ give some vague hope that everyone can be rich by chance. The third, ‘labor stories’ connect the labor and the wealth and take a serious view on the economical subject. It has hardly ever been found the persons were above riches and wealth. It is differ from the narrative reality of ‘yadam(野談)’, in which can find several persons who don’t persue the money and the wealth at all, and the reader regarded them as respectful ones. There are on text which are spoken with a position of the rich people. It results from the view point of the audience that regard in the same light as the poor, not the rich. These folk tales show some expectation to ‘the good money’ and ‘the ethical society’ and recognize the discord of the moral and money as a problematic situation. Such stories represent contemporary cultural health in the points of premising economic ethics and the rich person’s social responsibility.