「강도몽유록」 속 여성 발화자의 기능과 그 의미

Abstract

This study examines the significance of the adoption and application of female narrators in Record of a Dream on Kanghwa Island (Kangdo mongyurok, 江都夢遊錄). To do this, it first observes the function and depiction of the narrators, and then explores how narrative devices play a role in conveying the novel’s themes. Record of a Dream on Kanghwa Island not only asks who was responsible for the fall of Kanghwa Island and Chosŏn’s defeat, but also advocates for rejecting peace with the Qing, summoning women as mouthpieces of these political criticisms. The employment of female narrators followed naturally from summoning actual people who died with rage in their hearts per writing conventions of dream narratives. These female speakers act as representatives of their households and judges of national loyalty, thus demonstrating their narrative function. Subsequently, the study investigates two narrative devices related to the female speakers. The first is the motif of reward and punishment in the afterlife. While the writer equates the women’s fidelity with the men’s loyalty, they in fact judge the women based on whether their male relatives were loyal to Chosŏn. This ‘distorted reward and punishment’ system of ethics thus diminishes the women’s status. The second is how the resulting fragmentation of the novel’s summoning of the sacrificed women as speakers, i.e. the atmosphere of resentment and anguish dominating the novel, is patched together by the words of the last kisaeng. Furthermore, their unending wails points to the shame complex the ruling class felt regarding the invasion. The intent behind the writing of Record of a Dream on Kanghwa Island does not lie in the experience of women or recreating their forms. Rather, the employing of female narrators as a function of a specific narrative has almost no connection to the formation of a female ‘subject’ in classical narratives and in order promote the value of rejecting peace, limiting their subjectivity. In this light, the wailing of the women near the novel's end even reflects the ‘abstract pain’ of the ruling class. In sum, although Record of a Dream on Kanghwa Island sticks out as an ‘exception’ in classical narratives, it is rather conservative in its development of female subjectivity.