한국 현대시, 퀴어링으로 횡단하기

Abstract

As an alternative sexuality or a new cultural code in discourses and practices about sex, gender, and sexuality, the queer evokes both strong and weak sympathies and solidarities in our society while embracing all sexualities except heterosexuality. The queer imagination or code is readily found in the poetry of recent young poets. This necessitates readings of modern Korean poems that comprehend their queerness and queer representations. The mapping of a queer topography of contemporary Korean poetry accompanies an inquiry into the queer identity that has developed in its complication, opposition, and solidarity with feminism, lesbianism, gayism, and transgenderism. With this in mind, I make the following observations. 1) In the poems of Kim Seon-hyang and Ko Jeong-hee, the figured modes of utterance of lesbianism interlock with feminism. 2) The poems of Chae Ho-ki and Hwang Byungsng expose the performativity of drag (male in female clothing) against gender binarism, and make a feature of drag queens representing gender parody. By parodying formally B-list narratives or fantastic styles and substantially genders without the original conception, Hwang Byungsng's poems enhance the intersectionality of sexuality. 3) Poems by Kim Hyun and Hwang In-chan reveal the sexuality and politicality of gayism, the aspects of proper queer poetry securing the queer concernedness, and the diverse voices advocating the consciousness of queer liberation. 4) The poems of Jang Jung-il and Kim Seung-il reveal the polymorphism symbolized by “questioning,” “otherother” or simply “+”: the thoughts of becoming queer, refusing dichotomous categorization or stable normalization, and the playful representativeness of this thought. Queer implies the voices of sexual minorities that have become others. A few poets in contemporary Korean poetry have also begun to utter queer voices. These voices feature the modes in process of utterance without a single significant system or a mainstream discourse. In contemporary Korean poetry, these modes indicate the representativeness and position of queer poetry as a sub-genre.