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A study on Lee Gangbaek's plays in the late 1990s

  • Korean Language & Literature
  • 2008, (66), pp.359-384
  • Publisher : Korean Language & Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

Il-Soo Yoon 1

1강원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Lee Kangbaek has written some qualified plays which can be put into a group by periods. The plays written in the late 19th picture his idealistic society which he tries to attain by his plays. His ideal society is that an individual can grow even in society, and an individual has an much value as society. This subject is presented through space overlapping time, the story that the first and the end overlap, characters whose former life and next life are overlapped. In case of A diary of Journey to Youngwoel, comparing the appearance of Sejo vs Shin Sukju vs Han Myunghee holding a council in the Royal presence with the appearance of Yeom Munji vs Bu Cheonpil vs Lee Donggi holding a meeting in a study of Cho Dangjun, despite the difference of time and space, Chosun times vs present times, palace vs Cho Dangjun, each role is mixed up. In case of Flesh and Bone, the effort of Munshin's grandfather who stops the killing by his offspring is eventually embodied into the succeeding of the Choi family's lineage, jumping the difference of time and space. In case of Feeling, so Heavenly, Dongyeon seeks for the shape and Seoyeon seeks for the heart are unified into feeling by Ham Yijung. In this work, the life and death are united through the characters who appear after death and even before birth. It functions as a device to picture the unification of shape and content, human and nature. It is pointed out in this work that the compulsory possession oppresses the people. It is represented through the husband of Choi Sihwang, the Choi’s wife who attaches importance to the family, Munshin who stress on thr purity of extraction, and Dongyeon who seeks for a perfect shape. The malady of the collective society can be cured only with the some sacrifices, for example, Shin Sukju’s servant who is killed by his cryout that every man has a right to live with a bright face, Youngja who is blamed for extramarital affairs by her own sympathetic feeling, Ham Yijung who runs away from home.

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