윤흥길 소설 《에미》의 모성신화 형성 연구

A Study on Forming the Myth of Maternity in Yoon Heung-Gil"s Novel, 『Mother』

&nbsp;&nbsp;In his novel, 『Mother』(1991), Yoon Heung Gil formed the image of an ideal mother who depends on maternity in overcoming sufferings and further mythified her.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The mother sacrificed herself to save the life of her husband during the Korean War, and finally delivered an illegitimate child. She respected the child as the son of Maitreya and raised him with her full efforts into a decent son. This narrative is developed under a plot which focuses on solving mysteries. In his novel, Yoon Heung Gil is sometimes materializing the consciousness of re-birth, sacrificial offerings and ‘eunjangdo’ as a motif by using techniques of confrontation and reversal. In the final part of the novel, the mother abandons Maitreya and transcends all her sufferings and grudges by herself. In other words, she reaches a divine state with unified self, becoming mythified.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Discourse is referred to as dealing with point of view, narration styles and distance from characters. In the novel, the author maintains an objective narration in which the son as &quot;I&quot; becomes the speaker and narrator and keeps himself distant from his mother. In that narration, the mother&quot;s emotions are not revealed, but instead she is regarded as the subject who accepts her fate and sufferings under her responsibility. This supports forming the myth of maternity in the novel. In the novel, ‘eunjangdo’ is often used as a motif. Especially, some writings that ‘eunjangdo’ is useless suggest universal maternity which stresses respect for life itself and further deliver a message that patriarchy-based ideology should be overcome.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;It should be noted here that the above mentioned ideology might deepen the myth of maternity, so it might be taken for granted to suppress women&quot;s desires and force their suffering and sacrifice. This should be dealt with under the recognition that there&quot;s a big difference between when 『Mother』 was written and the present.