한국 현대 노년소설의 실존 양상 연구

Abstract

This study attempts to analyze the aspects of existence appearing in old age novels by Park Wan‐seo, Choi Il‐nam, and Han Seung‐won. Old age novels began by coping with the problems of the elderly. Korean society came to enter the 'aging society' in 2000. Modern elderly people are a new generation group living a life different from that of those elderly people in the past. The old age novels also escapes from the family‐oriented old age problems, and the old age writer himself/herself embodies the image of old age life from the perspective of the elderly. Individuals in their old age take on the problem of existence as a task. Old age is physically debilitating and threatened with the possibility of death more than any other period. Nevertheless, human beings are essentially the subjects of their own lives. Human beings have the possibility to realize themselves in any situation. Individuals have a relationship with the world and themselves and exist as possible beings. This study is to explain the existing aspects of old age figures through concrete analysis of relationships of beings with themselves and others. In Chapter 2, this study examines the existing aspects of urban elderly women appearing in Park Wan‐seo's old age novels. Park Wan‐seo is a writer who published novels based mostly on experience. In Park Wan‐seo's old age novels, the old age entrance begins with a break in relationship with the children. Older women go through their crisis of existence and look back on their lives. The perception of old age appearing in Park Wan‐seo's old age novels is negative, but the attitude toward old life is positive. Older people feel fear from their physical experiences or disgust their body. The characters of Park Wan‐seo's old age novels discover their own uniqueness or choose new life and love when they reach old age, and they look back on their life and understand themselves clearly. In Park Wan‐seo's old age novels, the first‐person descriptors reflect on the meaning of their inner psychology or behavior, and characteristically, a 'memoir' type of description that reflects on one's life appears. In Park Wan‐seo's old age novels, the old man tries to recover authentic self by subjectively focusing on the inside when reaching old age. In chapter 3, this study looks at the existing aspects of urban elderly men appearing in Choi Il‐nam's old age novels. In Choi Il‐nam's old age novels, the old age entrance of an urban male senior starts from retirement. The retired old man goes through the crisis of existence and seeks the possibility of a new life. The perception of old age appearing in Choi Il‐nam's old age novels is that they accept aging and affirm old age. While it is the period when these older people are socially isolated, they affirm old age as a time to pursue freedom. These old people seem to live as authentic being through 'the pioneer to death' and projection (a way of existence in which one throws oneself beyond the present and into the future) in relation to themselves and others. Choi Il‐nam's old age novels are critical to a person who has held a high‐ranking position pursuing honor and authority, or a rich person who demonstrates power. Choi Il‐nam's old age novels convey the story of the lives of the elderly to readers in the ways of 'peeping' and 'peeking'. The first‐person narrators appear to be sympathetic to their stories and participate. In Choi Il‐nam's old age novels, the elderly tend to pursue an authentic life in front of everyday life and death. In Chapter 4, this study examines the existence aspects of intellectuals and rural elderly people appearing in Han Seung‐won's old age novels. In Han Seung‐won's old age novels, the trigger of the old age entrance is the incidence of a serious disease. The old man seeks a new life amid the crisis of existence. The perception of old age appearing in Han Seung‐won's old age novels is presented as 'a time of vibrato.' 'A time of vibrato' is a time of life and a time of continuity. In Han Seung‐won's old age novels, grandparents in rural areas show the relationship of life coexistence and continuity with grandchildren. Elderly people pass on their experiences and wisdom to their grandchildren, and grandchildren become the whole meaning of life to their grandparents. In Han Seung‐won's old age novels, intellectual writers are described as faithful beings in their daily lives, even in the dryness of everyday life as a being possible. In addition, 'sex' is a source of being and functions as a driving force for possibility of life. Han Seung‐won's old age novels usually describe his experiences through first‐person narratives or conversations and eyewitness stories with other elderly people. In Han Seung‐won's old age novels, the old man realizes his possibility despite the decrease in physical and sexual abilities. In Chapter 5, this study contrastively explores the old age novels of the three authors and examines the significance of modern old age novels. The old age entrance process is common to the works of three artists. With regard to the understanding of old age or the form of discourse, each author shows a difference in values ​​and ways of shaping. The attitude toward the body or perception of 'sex' is a contrast between men and women. In the works of the three authors, the elderly are authentic beings and they show how they lead the life of old age subjectively. The old age novels of the 2000s developed around these authors can be said to be distinguished from the previous old age novels in the following perspectives. First, a prominent old‐age writer shapes the life of old age from the perspective of an old man, second, old age novels treat in diversified ways and in‐depth the existing aspects of old age beyond family narrative, and third, old age novels present a new image of the old man who seeks the meaning of life in old age. It can be said that the old age novels of the 2000s contributed to further expand the scope of modern old age novels by shaping the subjective appearance of the new older generation, not the isolated appearance of the elderly. As such, old age novels have moved toward shaping the life appearance of old age from the perspective of the elderly. The old age novels show that the elderly are authentic beings, that is, those beings who actively realize their possibilities. By highlighting the old age figures from the old age novels as the subject being, grasping the existing aspects is intended to understand the old age novels more elaborately and in depth.