소묘된 풍경의 여백과 기운생동의 미학 - 권영민의 ‘지용시 「비」 읽기’에 대한 비판

The Blank Space of the Sketched Landscape and Aesthetics of Vitality

  I published the article, "Chung Ji Yong"s Landscape Poetry and the Spirit of Seclusion" (Korean Cultural Studies, vol. 16, 1985) on Chung Ji Yong"s poetry about twenty years ago, and derived from it the characteristics of "landscape poetry," focusing on the poem, "Rain." It is an argument against the opinions of "Rain," by such preceding scholars as Song Wook and Mun Duk Su. Afterwards, Chang Kyung Ryul argued in his essay, "The Principle of Imagism and Poetics of the Oneness of Poetry and Picture" against my interpretation of the poem. And recently Kwon Young Min attempted to reread "Rain" in his essay, "Rereading Chung Ji Yong"s 126 Poems" against my discussion of the poem.   Poetry rereading should be based on previous studies. Nevertheless, previous studies are sometimes ignored or negatively understood, and even misread, which is a fatal error to the scholars who should establish strict logic of their study. Just as poets can write good poetry only when they observe the objects with clear and limpid eyes, so critics can read poetry well only when they read poems and establish logic of poetry with clear and undistorted eyes. A sincere and thoughtful scholar would not ignore or negate, or misread previous studies.   This article attempts to investigate whatever my former studies have not explicitly explained so far, synthesizing the various opinions of the scholars on "Rain." Poetry reading, whatever it is, may be called the history of misreading. Arbitrary interpretation and the impairment of original texts are the most general instances of misreading. Establishing the history of well-reading through misreading is always needed for the scholars of poetry reading.   Kwon Young Min"s "Rereading Chung Ji Yong"s 126 Poems," as well as Lee Soong Won"s "Original Text: Collected Poems of Chung Ji Yong"s Poetry" and my "Chung Ji Yong Dictionary," representative works on the study of Chung Ji Yong"s poetry, is the gateway for younger scholars to pass over. Whatever is said, something is lacking. Proper reading of poetry should assume more precise and thorough examination of the preceding studies and the original text.