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A Study on the Economy of 'Consciousness of Guilt' in Kyung-ri Park's Novels

  • Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 2006, (55), pp.141~194
  • Publisher : Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : March 10, 2006
  • Accepted : May 15, 2006

Kim，Eun-Kyung 1

1서울대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

Kyung-Ri Park is well known as the writer of The Land(䅣㶀), the historical novel. The Land is written from 1969 to 1994, and Kyung-Ri Park has been writing from 1955. So, before writing The Land, she had written many works. This essay aims to explore Kyung-Ri Park’s novel thoroughly. In order to realize this aim, this essay study the pre-works of The Land, and then based on the result, re-read The Land. Through reading Kyung-Ri Park’s novel over all, it is found that Park’s most prominent concern is the ‘Consciousness of Guilt’. This essay focus on this problem ; How the ‘Consciousness of Guilt’ is generating and resolving in Park’s novel is the main concern of this thesis. This is similar to the principle of economy, so this essay use the term ‘economy’ in relation to the ‘Consciousness of Guilt’ as ‘the economy of Jouissance’. From the Park’s early novels, crime [guilt] and punishment are appeared as the main motif. Kyung-Ri Park is consistently exploring the issue. Accordingly, the problem of Law is also the main idea in her novels. This essay is beginning to discuss the thoughts about the Law appeared in her novels. It is analyzed into two cases. One is the case that there isn’t connection between the administration of Law and the Consciousness of Guilt. The other is that a person who is guilt doesn’t awake the Consciousness of Guilt in relation to the Administration of Law. These aspects found in Park’s novels are essentially caused from the idea about Law. As reading Park’s novels, we can find Park’s ideas about the Law that don’t guarantee the goodness. This idea is related with the Kant’s thought of the Law as ‘Pure Form’. According to this idea, the realization of goodness isn’t guaranteed by the Law, that is, Law don’t take it’s material from the transcendental goodness. Park’s novels represent these idea through events and character’s dialogues. The former is well represented in the novels as The Days of Fantasy, A Window, the Land (Section 5), and the latter is appeared in the novels as A Human Being, A Betrayer, A Dislocation, The Land. Based on these aspects found in the Park’s novels, this essay draw a conclusion on the Consciousness of Guilt patterns and origin. In Park’s novels, we can find two types of the Consciousness of Guilt. One is related to the first case above mentioned; the Consciousness of Guilt originated from the relation with character [person] itself, especially family members or lovers. The other is related to the second case above mentioned; Characters don’t having any Consciousness of Guilt on the crime [guilt] is greedy for worldly riches or power. Even though they are punished for their misconduct, they don’t awake any guilt. It is problematic that Park does not stop to punish these characters by law. She reveals the idea if one person punished by law on his misdeed does not have any Consciousness of Guilt, then his guilt are not paid off. The Guilt is succeeded to his offsprings as a ‘Symbolic Debt’; So, this pattern is also related with family. Park does also reveals in her novels the origin of these two patterns of guilt. It’s origin is not simply Superego such as Freud asserts, but also ‘abstract subjective essence’ of human being’s desire insisted by Deleuze. Park’s quest for the guilt begins to explore such nature of human being’s desire, no longer in relation to objects, aims, or even sources. Such a essence of desire showed in An open Field lit up with the glow. These are discussed in second chapter of this essay. The discussion of third chapter is about Park’s quest for solution to the problem; How can one character(person) having the Consciousness of Guilt settles it. In discussing this problem in third chapter, the key point is whether victim-character survives or not. It is problematic situation that the victimcharacter does not exist, because the wrongdoer can’t compensate for his misconduct. A Window, Others, and A Dislocation are works to discuss with respect to this problem. When a person [harmer-character] has guilt to a victimcharacter who does not exist, he suffer from the fact he can’t compensate for his wrongdoing to his victim. A Window and Others are representing this situation. Protagonist of these works takes the way to punish himself, which is appeared Masochism according to Freud, Deleuze, Masochism is a way to decrease guilt or to increase sexual pleasure. In Park’s works, Masochism is takes to decrease the Consciousness of Guilt in impossible situation to circulate guilt and redemption. It’s possible to say Masochism is negative way to settle the Consciousness of Guilt. In Park’s novels, we can find more positive way to settle down guilt. It is to confess his crime [guilt] to one who loves and to wish making a home. Confession is to provide the listener with oneself who confess. If the listener forgive the confessor, then the circulation of crime and punishment could be finished. But Park’s quest for the problem of guilt does not take this more or less simple way. Park raises a question in the Dislocation, about statement of crime written by a person [wrongdoer-character] who does not have any consciousness of guilt. Park’s quest for resolving the guilt is succeeded in The Land. In forth chapter of this essay, argument on the Consciousness of Guilt is focused on The Land, which is Park’s last and monumental work. The argument of this essay does not isolated The Land from her another works. As we have seen, the argument on The Land is closely related with Park’s early works focusing on the guilt. The Land reveals several distinguishing points on the issue of this essay; First, The Land deals with the issue of guilt through a shift in generations. Second, in The Land, approaches on the issue of crime [guilt] relatively and take a broad view. It is caused from the fact that the background of The Land is from the last stage of Yi Dynasty to Japanese Imperialism. Third, the circular and closed structure of crime [guilt] and punishment [compensation[ expands it’s boundary by taking ‘third object’ to settle conflict in The Land. The salient feature of The Land is, as we know, it’s scope joins the story of five generations. So, the issue of personal guilt is expanded into the problem of family as a ‘Symbolic Debt’; By offsprings redemption paid off remained guilt of ancestors. As above mentioned, in The Land, the guilt is not stipulated absolutely caused by conflict between old-fashioned value and modernized value. Relatively prescribed guilt is paid off through the succession of generations by a method distinguished from early novels. Characters implicated in the issue of guilt expand their horizons into public dimension or art. They invest their desire in ‘Third Object’ to decrease their Consciousness of Guilt. For example, such characters devote himself to regain sovereignty from Japanese Imperialism, so that they recover their credit from dishonor as descendants of the criminal; or to devote himself to make works of art. This essay also observes the relation of law and crime [guilt] showed in The Land. The offsprings of criminal in The Land restore their honor by punishment of Law of Japanese. In this ironical situation, we can also Park’s thought on the Law as pure form. Transgression of Law not only increases the Consciousness of Guilt, but also decreases it. This essay is focused on the issue of Consciousness of guilt showed in Park’s novel.

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