<설운 장군> 당설화로 본 남성 인어 장군 인물 연구

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the character of a male mermaid general in the shrine tale General Seolun handed down on the islands near Suu Island, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do. This study found that although male mermaids rarely appear in Korean dang-folk tales or literary records, this folk tale called General Seolun has been handed down on the Suu and the nearby islands in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do and that there is a shrine called ‘Jiryeongsa’ on Suu Island. Therefore, a shrine ceremony was held, and a character study of the shrine god ‘General Seolun’ was necessary. The shrine tale, General Seolun, was recorded by Kim Young-il from 1992 to 1996. Based on the transcription, the morphological characteristics of the dang-folk tale were identified by comparing the original interpretation of the shaman myth and the folktale structure. The morphological characteristics were revealed through the Janggundang-related tale by focusing on the shrine tale told at the shrine on a small island that was unknown at the time. This can be seen as an outstanding achievement in research. However, it also signifies the meaning of the character ‘male mermaid general’ and its narrative, which was deemed insufficient. This study was based on existing and added data after a visit to Suu Island in October 2023 to find the kind of person Seolun was as a ‘male mermaid general’. The oral data of General Seolun was reviewed and organized by dividing it into birth and miracles, growth and trials, death, and transmission attitude. The narrative characteristics reveal ambivalent meanings, such as the fate of loyalists and traitors in birth and activity, the existence of humans and non-humans in their mysterious abilities, and fear and gratitude given to the inheritors in the death stage. The shrine tale, which forms an ambivalent pair of opposites, depicts General Seolun as a character who changes through opposing values at each stage of the narrative. As a ‘male mermaid general’ in shrine tales, Seolun was, firstly, a male traitor regarding gender and possessed peripheral masculinity. Second, as biological beings, male mermaids are middle-earth beings between the god of water and humans, possessing extraordinary abilities representing physical characteristics. Third, he is a general who realizes the wishes of the fishermen regarding succession. Unlike the historically real general god, this can be seen as the fact that the contemporary perceptions and desires of the transmitters formed the shrine tale of Seolun as a ‘male mermaid general.’