청대(淸代) ‘지이술괴(志異述怪)’의 성행에 관한 고찰 ― 관서(官署)의 특성을 중심으로

Abstract

The writer of this paper studies some reasons why Grotesque Stories were in vogue in the Government Office. The writer pays attention to the characteristics of the Government Office in the Qing Dynasty based on time and space. In the first chapter, time is observed as one of characteristics of the Government Office. A lot of Government Office during the Qing Dynasty were renovated or extended since they had been inherited from the Ming or earlier dynasties. For this reason, most of the Government Office in the Qing Dynasty were very aged from the beginning. From here, the old existed together with the new and the ghost from the past existed together with the double in the present as a long time passed by. That is, the Government Office was the place where Chinese history was being merged with the dynasties. A lot of Supernatural stories were written during the Qing Dynasty and the Government Office were backgrounded in the stories. In fact, considerable number of Supernatural Stories were created when old and worn Government Office stirred up traditional Chinese belief that a person becomes a ghost after death and a thing becomes a fairy when it gets old. In the second chapter, the space is observed as another characteristic of the Government Office. Government Office in the Qing Dynasty were different from those in previous dynasties, in that scholars such as officials and their staff lived, worked and spent leisure time together. Owing to their living condition brought by their jobs, the scholars were able to spend a lot of time chatting with each other in the Government Office. Eventually, this led to a number of stories, which reflected their jobs or leisure activities. The Government Office provided the scholars with good writing materials in relation to Government Office's characteristics - time and space. Besides, some of the Suprenatural Stories give us a chance to look into the life of the members in the Government Office- as to how unique the members' feelings were and which part of them was oppressed subconsciously.