홍길동 서사의 서구적 변용 - 새 자료 <Lotus Bud>의 가치와 의미 -

A Western Adaptation of the Korean Classical Novel, <Hong Gil Dong> - A Meaning of the newly founded <Lotus Bud> -

<Lotus Bud> is an adapted work from the story of Hong, Gil-dong, reconstructed under the western viewpoint. It assumes the form of drama. Actually, it was a novel originally. It is clear to be changed in the process of the dramatization. It is a play script put it on the stage in Hawaii, 1934. It supposed that the adapter was an American, the contents and the situation considered. The director and the main casts were the pure Americans or the second generation of the Korean-American. Of course, it is certain that they obtained the sources from the first generation of the Korean-American. It was widely changed to the western style in the result. It is a possible ground that the adaptation can be a result of the reflection of the Korean-Americans' marginal self into the transfiguration. Actually, a drama <Hong Gil Tong> was played in advance of <Lotus Bud> in 1930s. The 'lotus bud' in the title came from the Korean classical novel <Shim Cheong Jeon>. Yet, its contents are from the story of Hong, Gil-dong. The narrative, <Hong Gil Dong> is made up of 'the noble family line-abnormal birth-prominent capability-foundling and death-overcoming death-crisis in the adulthood-triumph in the struggle'. The hero Hong, Gil-dong was a superhuman being, accordingly the result must be an anticipated triumph through the struggle. Although he made the magic a mean to fight for the objects in the everyday life, it must be an irrational element in the narrative structure. Gil-dong's unreal feature like this is decolorized in <Lotus Bud>. The rationality in delineating character goes down the contingency in the plot, and makes the narrative structure more minutely. Thanks to the rationality in delineating characters, a stable aesthetics in the whole work could be realized. The point of the origin story of Hong, Gil-dong is to stress the hero's distinctive quality. However, we have to agree to lose the rationality from the hero's distinctive quality grounding on the magic. The story that Gil-dong became a boss of the thieves in the hangout of the robbers, and made a stepping-stone to realize his ideal through embarking in an action of the chivalrous robber is a device to stress his distinctive quality as a hero. The robbers who were under the boss of Li, El-han have done the action of the chivalrous robber before Gil-dong joined them. Li, El-han, the boss of the robbers in <Lotus Bud> is described with the image of Robin Hood. The point of the narrative in <Lotus Bud> is a nuptial tie between Gil-dong and Lotus Bud. Gil-dong's father, Hong Pansa and Lotus Bud's father, Li, El-han are mutual enemies. Accordingly, we can say that <Lotus Bud> received the story of <Romeo and Juliet>. The adapter modified the story of <Hong Gil Dong> to <Lotus Bud>, grounding on their consciousness. The modification is the whole process of 'ellipsis, addition, change' done to the story of <Hong Gil Dong>. <Lotus Bud> can be said it is another Hong, Gil-dong story, modified under the rational consciousness of the Western world.