<周生傳>의 浪漫性에 대한 文學社會學的 讀解

A Lit-Sociological Interpretation of Romanticism Represented in Jusaengjeon - Focusing on Namjopung and Sasang -

This study was to explore Namjopung, a literary style in southern China which constructs the core of romanticism in Jusaengjeon, and a Sasang-like life in terms of the relation between Pil Kwon’s life and the then society. Throughout the paper, I studied what the origin of Kwon’s romantic imagination should be and how it was implemented in Jusaengjeon. In addition, I concretely investigated the relation between what the 16th century society Kwon was exposed to would be like and how his experiential life was incorporated into the work of Jusaengjeon. First, I specifically unveiled that Kwon’s romantic character was related to his own life as well as Hakdangpung, a Chinese poetic style prevalent in the then Korean literary circles, and that the work Jusaengjeon was an outcome of his romantic imagination. The southern region in China, the major setting of the work, aroused a romantic imagination coupled with strong exotic emotions, symbolizing the images of freedom and spaciousness. I argued that these were a result of his romantic imagination, which was paradoxically intensified in the fetters he had undergone in his life. These images of freedom and spaciousness of the southern China and romanticism, visualized by the author who had never visited China, were created in contrast with frustration and emotional congestion he had felt as an intellectual of Joseon, the 16th century Korean dynasty. Second, I made it clear that Chokju and a work named Hwaganjip, mentioned both at the beginning and at the end of the work, were a highly-elaborate literary scheme which was maintained throughout the whole work. In particular, Hwaganjip was a typical work of Namjopung, which praised affections between a man and woman. Also, it made the romantic imagination more fruitful and strengthened the exotic emotions, making us long for the southern region including Chokju. Finally, I argued that in the southern region, surrounded by quite a few lakes and rivers, Kwon’s Sasang-like romantic life as a scholar and merchant was visualized as a way of an ideal life style. In addition, I brought up his pioneering, progressive ideology as a new research theme by focusing on his perception of the world and Sasang-like life as an alternative.