쑤퉁 소설의 구형(球形) 모티프에 내재한 역사 감각— 「의식의 완성」, 「처첩성군」, 「양귀비의 집」을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper focuses on Sutong’s three works published around 1989, 『Completion of Rite』, 『Wives in groups』 and 『Poppy House』. Here, it was analyzed that the repetitive pattern of spherical images with a “round” shape and a “containing” function deepens the consciousness of the subject and induces it to the point of orientation, just like the “motif” of art. When analyzed as a mythological symbol, they are connected to the maternal archetype through the symbolism of a ‘swallowing mouth’, which moves to the dimension of the code of ‘history’. As the meaning of ‘a swallowing mouth’ in mythology has the ambivalence of destruction and regeneration, so when this is linked with ‘history’, the artist’s core perception and sense of history can reveal, which is a macroscopic and cosmological perspective on the hope of history. Meanwhile, in the connection with the Cynical Realism of the art world especially of paintings it was revealed that this is not just the artist’s individual, but a trace of the agonizing thoughts of intellects formed through the two Tiananmen events. Also The “motif” method of such a mythical symbol is the artist’s main modernist art technique and is worth recognizing as much as his achievements in the art world. It makes it possible to understand the special role of modernism in China at that time. In other words, Sutong’s work in this period is a record of active intellectual activity, aspiration for social and political reform, and deep frustration. At the same time they installs a spirit of hope in the middle of a rapid transition from the Cultural Revolution to the Reform and Opening. This shows an intense interest and outstanding sense of history so that we can get a glimpse of a page of intellectual history at the time, which is worth looking back both humanistically and in grasping the current situation in China.