이문구 소설의 구술적 서사전통 연구

Abstract

The paper was originally based upon the three following research efforts; first, to reconsider the rational systemization advocated in the western modern novels and the compositions of the literary history based upon the systemization; second, to try a positive understanding of the oral narrative tradition in modern novels and its veins; and third, to investigate the narrative tradition and its pattern of transformation in Korean novels and to make a concentrated analysis of the features and characteristics of the novels by Lee Mun-goo for each period since his novels are the concrete realization of the narrative tradition and its transformation. There have been no researches on the works of Lee Mun-goo which covered the inner traditional of Korean novels found in them. In some occasions, they tried to connect his style with a tradition but couldn’t provide nothing more than a vague presumption, missing all the positive and rational review. Such focus on his style, whether positive or negative, was even used as a basis to pinpoint his novels' lacking quality unable to satisfy the criteria imposed in modern novels. And it has been the general case for the study of Lee Mun-goo's novels so far. This kind of misjudgment has derived from the so-called 'theory of texts' which is trapping the Korean literature in its spell with its prevailing and popular use and the most sophisticated and persistent form of its. And the dichotomy between 'romance' and 'novel' in Korea’s modern novels should also be responsible for it. As long as this standard and composition continue to work on literary researches, there is no way for such novels as are not classified into the system of western novels like those by Lee Mun-goo to take a road other than one to the destination of 'lacking novels' or 'mutated novels.' They deserve just and fair understanding, and yet it seems far to reach the point. Thus the history of Korean novels cannot help being reinforced in its stigma of Asian inferiority. Lee Mun-goo's novels are the living proof of the oral narrative tradition with a long origin. They accepted and inherited the tradition and further transformed it in a modern kind of way. In this paper, a focus was made on the transformation of the narrative tradition in terms of novel formats and its meaning in his novels. His strategy of writing in essay, the esthetics of 'delivering' style, and introduction and expansion of the style of series were the examples of the transformation. In addition, an argument was made saying that the kind of process found in his novels is not limited within an individual but represents the renewal and the way of formation of Korean novels, where the significance of his novels can be found.