성장소설의 특성에 관한 고찰

Abstract

Based on Ranciere’s discussion, the genre characteristics of Korean growth novels were attributed to the historical specificity of modern and contemporary Korean history. The politics of Korean growth novels can be noted as the politics of revealing the order of society, which forms the background of the novel. Korea’s modernization is a process in which political turmoil has continued through a series of historical situations such as colonization, war, and division. The absurd social order inherent in the Korean Peninsula’s political landscape acts as a factor that hinders and deprives individuals of their desire to acquire spatial subjectivity. The protagonist of the growth novel, who has lost their spatial subjectivity, display a defensive and compromised growth process and a small citizen’s life. The violence of the times allows individuals to name themselves as minor citizens. In the growth novel, a character's defensive definition of their identity is a choice without an al ternative made by an individual who recognizes the reality that they cannot escape from an absurd society. Through the compromised growth process exhibited by the protagonist and the appearance of a small citizen’s life, the growth novel functions to accuse the hidden absurdity inherent in the society of the time.