여성-민중, 선언 - 『또하나의문화』와 고정희

Abstract

Reading the 1980s of Korean literary history again from the current point of view, is closely related to the work of re-interpreting the meaning of feminist movement and the female literature of the time. In the literary history of 80s, the viewpoint that considers 'female' was either excluded or left out. Thus, considering the status that the 80s holds within the Korean society, reading it from the viewpoint that takes 'female' into consideration is the most radical and fundamental way to re-evaluate and re-organize the documented history. The 80s is the era of political dynamics, as it either went through or prepared the series of world-historical events such as China's Tiananmen Incident, the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe or the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Simultaneously, the context of domestic democracy movement which was closely linked to "Kwangju," "the people," and "democracy," is an important discussion point that equals re-evaluation of 80s to questioning the meaning of 'citizen' and 'human being' in our society. In the same context, it is important to actively keep raising the fundamental awareness of the fact that 'the people' who were indicated as a main body of history and 'the square' that 'the people' stood, were openly considered as male. This was also raised in the previous studies as an issue. This article deals with one female poet whose name is 'Ko Jeong-hee' who represents 'a woman who stands in 'the square'' in the same sense. Life itself and the work of Ko Jeong-hee represents her effort to speculate 'Female-the people' instead of mere 'the people' by possessing exclusively, the grammar of the people poem, which was a war criminal in the 80's. In doing so, her life and work became an important text of feminist movement which presents literary/academic genealogy and topographic map of Korean society of that time, and moved forward with the irony and paradox within the democracy movement that was centered around the people and the laborer. Specifically, Ko Jeong-hee proceeded the Mook movement with members of coterie magazine named 'Another Culture' from the first issue. She was also one of the poets that utilized feminist issue officially as 'typography movement' by participating in 'Another Culture'. This article focuses on the fact that the coterie magazine 'Another Culture' functioned as a venue of linguistic movement among members of the magazine, and also pays attention to her work which was featured in 'Another Culture special' in a separate context from her other books of poetry or essays. This article evaluates how Ko Jeong-hee, as a poet, utilized female signifier in the context of feminist 'declaration', and applies it to the insight of Étienne Balibar who considered fundamental 'inconsistency' between the signifier and the signified as revolutionary motivation of subordinate subjects. By doing so, the report reads the poet's poetical experiment thoroughly. Ultimately, it could lead to exploration of linguistic capabilities and possibilities of feminist movement which is based on the gap between the statement and the action.