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A Study on the Double Suicide Motifs in the Works of Lee Sang and Dazai Osamu

Go Hyeon Hye 1

1국민대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The double suicide motifs that appear in the works of Lee Sang and Dazai Osamu can be understood as a succession to the double suicide motif used by Akutagawa Ryonosuke. Akutagawa, Dazai, and Lee Sang’s motif of the double suicide of love and death can be seen simply as a the result of love affairs; they reflect much of the era and of the political, social and cultural realities faced by the people of the times and in this sense are a modern reflection of the landscape. The double suicide motifs were differently developed by each author according to their own life situation and experiences and according to the inner urge to visualize literary motifs of double suicide based on and by oneself, again looking objectively at real places located to experience the structure. In addition, the double suicide motifs reflect the landscape of modern Japan and Korea, as well as Akutagawa, Dazai, and Lee Sang's criticism of their own initiative in the creative acts of life by horns and confusion, which was ultimately based on the tool of reflection. Akutagawa’s spiritual expression of criticism about the double-suicide motif was further materialized or supplemented by Dazai and Lee Sang; both commonly adopted the motif but each developed it in their own way. Dazai’s ‘caricaturized motif’ was achieved by complementing and refining Akutagawa’s spiritual double suicide motif. Lee Sang’s ‘sacrosanct motif’ was developed through the combination of the former two motifs. Therefore, it still remains within the influence sphere of aesthetics of Akutagawa’s motifs.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.