‘자서전의 죽음’과 인종 경계선의 허구: 한때 흑인이었던 남자의 자서전 다시 읽기

‘Death of the Autobiography’ and Fiction of Racial Boundary: Re-reading The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

This study pays attention to the effect of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (AEM) obtained as it describes the AEM narrator’s passing narration in the style of autobiography. Through such a way of reading, this study sheds light on how AEM disperses the fictitious concept called ‘racial boundary’ by borrowing such a style as autobiography. Robert Stepto defined the narrator as ‘an incompetent narrator,’ while Valerie Smith defined the narrator as ‘an ethnic betrayer.’ However, it is considered that such analyses are on the premise of authentic originary blackness from the narrator who was colored, possibly resulting in another racial suppression. In addition, this study clarifies that Johnson wrote AEM as ‘an autobiography without a great man’ intentionally through the post-modern concept of ‘constructive ego.’ It is because this ‘autobiography without a great man’ secured space where the narrator could describe his passing experiences as honestly as possible.