18세기 사대부 지식인 유만주의 고독

Abstract

This paper examines the loneliness of YuMan-Ju, a Sadaebu(the noble class) intellectual from eighteenth-century of the Joseon dynasty. It also analyzes the solitudinous aspect of his life showing that he was willing to immerse himself in his inner world. In this paper, loneliness and solitude will be dealt in a different perspective and meaning. Loneliness is regarded as an attitude where one passively receives the situation being alone, whereas solitude is an active acceptance of being apart from others. It is not easy to differentiate between the state of loneliness and solitude because while one could be suffering from chronic depression and loneliness, at the same time that person could embrace his emotions and further delve into his mental “cave”, entering a state of solitude. The converse also applies: a person in a state of solitude may come to realize that his emotions were in fact loneliness. People in general, when alone, may experience a constant fluctuation between loneliness and solitude. Yu Man-Ju’s inherit character, lack of communication with others, absence of social presence, and the death of a beloved person ultimately led him to experience feeling lonely. On the other hand, letting himself sink into his inner world and longing to transcend the secular world, Yu established imaginative world called ‘Imhwadongcheon(臨華洞天)’. The aspect of Imhwadongcheon is similar to the landscaping scheme, and it also reminds us of a fantasy novel. It is a world created through his overcoming of loneliness and the finding of solace in his solitude. In addition, this recluse allowed him to cure his soul, heavily wounded by the reality of his faint social presence. However, the death of his first son(Gu-Hwan), who he regarded as his hope, left his mind in a state of desperate loneliness, and the resulting shock led to his death, less than a year apart from his son’s death.