<최척전>에 나타난 상대적 화이관

The external perception of <Choi Cheok Jeon>

이 논문은 <최척전>(1621)의 외국인에 대한 묘사를 분석하여 외국인형상에 담긴 대외인식과 그것에 담긴 작가의식을 밝힌 글이다. 외국인형상의 긍정적인 면만을 부각시켜 다루었던 선행연구와는 다르게 외국인에 대한 긍정적인 면과 부정적인 면을 함께 다룸으로써 이 작품의 대외 인식에 대한 새로운 접근을 시도하였다. 우선, 사건 전개에 따라 등장하는 외국인을 국적별로 나누고 그 행위를 정리하였다. 다음으로, 당시의 화이(華夷)관념에 따라 華에 해당하는 명(明), 夷에 해당하는 후금(後金)과 왜(倭)에 대한 인식을 살펴보았다. 그 결과 첫째, 재조지은(再造之恩)과 모화(慕華)의식에 치우치지 않은 대명인식, 둘째, 야만으로만 폄하하지 않는 대후금인식, 셋째, 불공대천의 원수로만 보지 않는 대왜(對倭)인식이 드러났다. 마지막으로, 이러한 대외인식은 작가 조위한의 직간접적인 경험을 통해 얻은 현실적인 국제감각과 정치인식에 의한 상대적 화이관이 반영된 것임을 밝혔다.

This thesis analyzes the description of foreign nationals in <Choi Cheok Jeon>(1621) to identify the external perception of the appearances of foreign nationals and the significance of such percpetion. Unlike preceding studies that only addressed the positive aspects of foreign appearances, this study addresses both the positive and negative aspects to objectively and comprehensively analyze the external perception of this work. First, the foreign nationals that appear in the work were categorized by nationality and their actions were summarized. Next, the perceptions towards We(倭) and Hugeum(後金) which correspond to Yi(夷) in accordance with the concept of Hwa Yi(華夷), and the perception of Ming(明) that correspond to Hwa(華) was reviewed. The findings showed first, the perception of We(倭) where they were not only seen as the greatest enemy on earth, second the perception of Hu Geum where they were not seen just as barbarians, and third, a perception of Ming that did not lean towards Jae-Jo-Ji-Eun(再造之恩) or Mohwa(慕華). Lastly, it was proven that such perception reflects the understanding of international politics and politics in general based on the worries of the author Wihan Cho who was an aristocrat at the time. Based on his understanding of international politics and experience with war, Cho moved away from a stereotypical concept of Hwa Yi to take on a more reaslitic perspective, and presented the optimal direction for foreign policy that Josun society should take as it was at a cross-roads between survival and collapse. Such a view are expressed between the lines.