오정희의 〈불의 강〉에 나타난 도시적 삶의 억압 양상

• 영문명: The pattern of oppressed metropolitan life which appears in The River of Fire of Jung-Hee Oh
• 발행기관: 어문연구학회
• 저자명: 김민옥(Min-ok Kim)
• 간행물 정보: 『어문연구』語文硏究 第57輯, 303~328쪽, 전체 26쪽
• 주제분류: 어문학 > 한국어와문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2008.08.01

영문 초록

  The objective of this study is to discuss the pattern of oppressed metropolitan life based on the 1970s’ novels, The River of Fire, written by Jung-Hee Oh The River of Fire talks of oppressed life in metropolis through the closed space of apartments (house), the oppressing space of power plant, and the closed up space of seamstress house. In order to understand it in detail, the space structure and the phraseology of the book were analyzed. The analysis showed that The River of Fire places binary antagonism structure. The space moves in the pattern of home outside, home according to the character’s actions. By analyzing the phraseology of the characters in and out of the house, we can see the characters’ dislike for inside space and their desire for outside space.
  The space these characters reside in is the top floor of the apartment which is the 6th floor of the building which is the closed up space for the characters. Generally speaking, windows and doors symbolize access to the outside world. It is the space where relation to the society can be found. But in, The River of Fire a house is not a space symbolizing daily lives. The space is often described as a space where characters feel anxious and find it hard to settle down in the space. The character of the closed up space derives from the replicating concept of apartments. From the description of the sewing machine sound filling up the seamstress house, we can understand that industrialization and urbanization intruded the live soft he characters. That is why the characters long for outside and the open air are considered open space.
  The outside, which are desired by the characters of the novel, are where the characters become destructive and free. By studying the phraseology of characters when they are outside, both the husband and wife feels free from anxiety. They rebel against the world(industrialized and urbanized) with destructive behaviors. The wife behaves rather negatively by smoking and setting fire on the grass field. Her husband rebels rather positively by writing poems against urbanization and setting fire in power plants. The characters feel free from these activities. The freedom can be understood as escaping from dreadful and void life. Enmity against tedious ordinary life and oppressing city life was interpreted by the ‘urge for arson’ of the power plant which is the symbol of industrialization. This can also be interpreted as a desire for the recovery of the life which is subduing by the oppression. The arson of the power plant shows the husband’s strong enmity against the metropolitan life and it can also be understood as his desire for the recovery of his life energy.
  The River of Fire directly describes the life of urbanites via the image of disabilities. This signifies people who are no longer interested in connection to the world and un-motivated incompetence. The image of disabilities is thrown out from the world or negotiations are disconnected from the beginning. That is why the characters are grieved with alienations and they end up expressing it with violence.
  Among other urban novels of 1970s, The River of Fire of Jung-Hee Oh describes how strongly the urbanization is ruling our society by emphasizing oppressed mental status and desire for freedom. Jung-Hee Oh is describing the oxy moronic structure of the Korean society deriving from industrialization and urbanization of 1970s. The book offers an opportunity for us to contemplate the true state of metropolitan life style ruling our lives.

목차

1. 문제 제기-도시 공간과 소설
2. 대립적 공간 설정과 중층적 반복
3. 억압적 공간과 일탈 욕망
4. 열린 공간과 파괴 본능
5. 나오며
참고문헌
Abstract

키워드

The City novels The City Space The pattern of oppressed life The image of disabilities Inside space Outside spacs