한국 근대시의 새로운 리듬론, 리듬 음성중심주의를 넘어서 — 주요한의 「불노리」에서의 내면과 언어의 관계

Abstract

In the tradition of modern Korean poetics, it is widely accepted that the idea of rhythm as the generic form of free verse is founded on individual subject’s rhythm. There submerge two unresolved premises within this conception: one is that subjectivity/interiority is allegedly supposed to be existent and the other is that poetic rhythm is a linguistic form of throbbing waves of this subjectivity/interiority. This means that the interior and the linguistic is the two concepts generating and underpinning the structure of poetic rhythm. In order to theorize the rhythm in free verse in the full-fledged way, one must move his focus from the linguistic to the poetic; the poetic essence of poetic language is not hinged on its language per se but regulated by the subjectivity associated with the speech act of poetic language. In other words, rhythm must be regarded as a linguistic figure of subjectivity. To examine this figure, it is necessary to learn how the subjectivity expresses itself in the form of poetic language. In this vein, I consider subject’s self-description as rhythm. The rhythm in this sense is expressed through chain of letters and repeated interruptions. The consecutive presentations of letters correspond to the abrupt interruption of speech by punctuation marks. In my analysis of Chu Yo-han’s “Pulnori,” I focus on the form of subjectivity represented through the breaks of punctuation marks. I come to conclusion that the poem represents the obsessive oscillation between constitution and loss of subjectivity. The once seemingly seamless self-description is ceaselessly interrupted and simultaneously resumes to flow at the very place where it is forced to stop. The rhythm, as my analysis of “Pulnori” proves, is a certain sort of command which regulates the conscious/unconscious of subject at deeper level of generation of poetic language. Rhythm in this sense is exposed only through the subject's absolute failure to deliver its speech.