The Feminism Perspective and History of Study on Mujeong

Junghyun Hwang

This paper aims to find new clues to extend the meaning of Mujeong beyond the existing literary historical evaluation as ‘Korean first modern novel’, through the reading based on feminism perspective. Feminism perspective is important to find the meaning which has been ignored. It also can ask questions about the male-centric analysis of Mujeong and discover the hidden meaning of the novel which has been neglected by the existing authority and order. The study based on feminist perspectives shows two major tendencies. First, some studies insist that the plot of Mujeong resembles a 'female formation novel' structure because it has characters of 'modern female subject' that separate from the old values through dramatic changes and aim at ethics of a new age. This view is based on the fact that the formal characteristics of Mujeong are in common with the universal structure of modern novels, thus suggesting the possibility of understanding 'as one of the world literature' beyond the context of Korea. However, the gender characteristics and differences that should be considered important in the meaning analysis of the 'female formation novel' are neglected in these studies. 'Consciousness and enlightenment of the modern people' centered on the male gender is not enough to explain the meaning of female characters’ changes. Second, some studies focus on the discriminatory factors that occur in the process of recognition and representation of female sexuality. These criticize that the form and the perspective of Mujeong reflect the view centered on the male gender. Furthermore, these insist that 'modern male subject' is established in the process of discriminating and controlling the female sexuality. This point of view provides an opportunity to critically review the dichotomous discussion of the affirmation and negation of the value of 'Mujeong as a modern novel'. Subsequent researches on the meaning of existence and role of female characters and related factors are required. As we have seen in the preceding research results, reading Mujeong based on feminist perspective is a way to escape the stereotypes that have accumulated over many years in the works and it is also a task to recognize the traits and literary values. Above all, it is valuable in that it shows that Mujeong is still a text that needs to be interpreted by raising critical questions.

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REFERENCES (32)
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* 2021년 이후 발행 논문의 참고문헌은 현재 구축 중입니다.

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