문화대혁명은 왜 ‘靑春’으로 표상되는가? ― 老鬼의 ≪血色黃昏≫을 통해 본 知靑 意識의 단면

Abstract

This paper analyzes the interiority of the Chinese educated youth by examining Lao Gui’s autobiographical novel, Bloody Dusk, which records the eight years he spent in a military unit in Inner Mongolia as an educated youth. Bloody Dusk vividly describes the life and milieu of a military unit in Inner Mongolia and the conflicts among individuals living there. Hence this novel is very appropriate for examining the life and interiority of the educated youth who participated in the Down to the Countryside Movement. Two main themes of Bloody Dusk are the conflicts between the educated youth and managing officers and the protagonist Lin Hu’s love. These two themes can be represented by the term, romantic ‘heroism.’ By reading this novel, we can clearly find out the roots of the heroism shared by the educated youth during the Cultural Revolution, the function of this heroism in concrete conflicts, and the ways in which this heroism was frustrated and subjected to self-examination. Aesthetically, all of the struggles and frustrations of the educated youth in Bloody Dusk can be condensed into the two terms, ‘blood red’ and ‘youth.’ These are that generation’s emblems of romantic resistance that ultimately was nothing but ‘loss.’ These are also the forms of remorse and memory of their ‘lost youth,’ self-sacrifice and frustration. However, during both the times, when they were young and when later they are recollecting their youth, their consciousness is communicated with neither the ethnic minorities of Inner Mongolian or later generations, only to be exclusively confined to their own generation. This is the most significant limitation of their consciousness.