조명희 작품 연구

Abstract

抱石 趙明熙는 日帝의 植民政策이 本格化되었던 1920年代에 活動한 作家로, 文學을 통해서 時代狀況을 고민하고 적극적인 극복 방향성을 제시하고자 하였다. 그의 文學世界는 1920年부터 1924年 무렵까지 戱曲과 詩를 주로 창작한 초기의 作家 意識 形成期와 1925年부터 1928년 소련으로의 망명 전까지 小說을 주로 발표한 本格的 文學活動期로 구분할 수 있다. 趙明熙 文學에 대한 논의의 중심은 社會主義 理念을 受容하고 KAPF계열의 작가로서 식민지 현실과의 직접적 대결을 전개한 그의 小說에서 나타내는 現實認識과 植民地 狀況을 克服하려는 展望의 提示에 모아진다. 특히 그의 小說은 自然發生的 新傾向派文學에서 目的意識的 프로문학으로 轉換하는 過渡期에 위치하기 때문에 프로문학의 전개양상을 보여주는 실례로서 중요성을 갖는다. 따라서 本考에서는 趙明熙 小說의 現實認識 展開樣相을 살피고, 아울러 인식의 변화에 따른 形式上의 모색과 한계를 밝히고자 하였다. 초기문학을 통해 본 작가의식의 기반은 휴머니즘, 즉 인간 해방이었으며 초기의 個人主義 휴머니즘이 점차 식민지 민족해방, 계급해방이라는 집단적 가치로써의 휴머니즘으로 확대되었다. 타락한 인간과 현실의 문제를 해결하고자 하는 고민의 과정을 전제로 社會主義를 受容하기 때문에 조명희의 소설은 階級 理念을 民族 現實과 결합시킬 수 있었다고 하겠다. 그의 小說은 作家의 貧窮 體驗에서 視覺을 점차 社會로 擴大시키고 植民地와 帝國主義의 關係를 認識, 民族的·階級的 觀點을 同時的으로 捕捉하여 民族解放의 積極的인 方法論 提示로 展開된다. 이 과정은 個人의 貧窮體驗, 부조리한 현실 비판의 단계를 거쳐 일제와 지주라는 이중적 수탈구조를 인식하고 극복 방향성을 제시하는 단계로 발전된다. 이러한 現實認識의 具體化는 作品에 나타난 女性像에서도 明確히 對應된다. 女性像 역시도 體驗意識 狀態에서는 母性을 절대화하여 女性의 타락성을 부정하고 혐오하지만 점차 타락상의 원인을 식민지적 상황과 남성에 의한 이중의 억압으로 把握하고 여성이 主體가 되어 극복해야 한다는 認識으로 변화한다. 이상의 분석결과로 조명희 소설은 體驗이나 理念 어느 한 면에 매몰되어 막연한 반항이나 觀念性을 드러냈던 新願向派小說의 한계를 극복하여 현실성 획득과 理念을 통한 민족해방의 방향성 제시에 성과를 보인 作品이라 할 수 있다. 그러나 作家가 획득한 世界觀을 어떻게 形象化할 것언가라는 創作方法上의 문제에서는 敍述類型의 變化를 통해 客觀的인 提示에 노력하였지만 현실의 총체적 형상화를 통해 구체적 전망을 보여줄 수 있는 長篇으로의 발전 가능성을 시사하는 데 머무른 아쉬움이 남는다.

Jo Myong-hee (penname; Posok) whose literary activities were vigorious during the 1920's when the Japanese colonial scheme was in full-scale shape, attempted to present a positive direction to the conquest of our people's agony through literature. His literary life can be divided into the two periods; the first one was from 1920 through 1924 when he was engaged mainly in writing dramas and poems. During this period, his self-consciousness seemed to have been formed. And the second period was from 1925 to the time when he took asylum in the Soviet Union in 1928. During this second period, he conducted a full-scale literary activities, engaged mainly in writing novels. The discussion on the KAPF faction writer Jo Myong-hee's literary world has been focused on his understanding of the reality and his literary efforts to surmount the colonial situation of the times embodied in his novels, which accommodated socialism and depicted a head-on confrontation with the colonial reality. In particular, considering the transitional position of his novels between the indigenous 'New Ism' faction and the purposive 'Proleteriat' school, his works are instrumental in understanding the developmental process of the proleteriat literature. Based on this background, this paper aims at reviewing the developmental transition of Jo Myong-hee's understanding of reality and the limitation of his literary world as well caused by the transition. The individualistic 'Humanism' or human liberation which was embodied in his earlier works, later developed into the 'Collective Value' of humanism such as people's liberation and class leveling. Because his novels accommodate the socialism after the long self-reflection on the corruption of human beings and society, they could combine the class ideology and the people's liberation. His novels show the gradual transition of his individualistic view of life formed through his poverty-stricken experiences to the collective view of society. In this transition, he simultaneously apprehended the dual relationship between the peoples and the classes through the recognition of the colonialism/imperialism equation and in the end presented a positive settlement of the people's liberation. In this self-consciousness development process, the individualistic experiences take the three stages; personal experiences of poverty, critical view of the irregular reality and the recognition of the dual exploitation structure of the Japanese imperialists/landowners. Through these three stages of experiences, the final stage of surmounting the reality is reached. Such stages of approaching the reality were also clearly shown in his view of women. In his earlier works, woman was the maternity itself in absolute terms, and the corruption of women was totally despised. In his later novels, however, he apprehended the corruption of women was caused by the dual oppression of the colonial situation and the men's rule, which, he suggested, women should surmound for themselves. Summing up the above analysis, Jo Myong-hee's novels surmounted the limitation of the' New Ism' faction which could not break from the obscurity and conceptuality of resistance, caught in a naive personal experiences or ideological emptiness. Furthermore, his novels were successful in presenting a direction to the people's liberation through the realistic approach to the situation of the times and ideology. However, despite his efforts to objectively describe the real. world through the various descriptive methods, we miss that in terms of the creativity of embodying the writer's view of the world in the novels, he could only suggest some possibility of apprehending the overall reality and building a concrete prospect thereupon in a long novel.