유령 이야기의 ‘공간적 형식’ – 「밝은 모퉁이 집」과 「악마 연인」을 중심으로

초록

This paper addresses the question of why ghostly presences still haunt many modern literary texts even in the twentieth century, the period usually characterized by scientific rationality. By focusing on the comparative study of Henry James’s “The Jolly Corner” (1908) and Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover,” (1941) this paper attempts to decipher the ghosts’ identities, employing Joseph Frank’s concept of ‘spatial form.’ Spencer Bryden’s alter-ego wanders in his old house, and the Mrs. Drover’s old flame reappears as a driver in a taxi cap. When Bryden confronts the apparition’s monstrous face, and when Mrs. Drover stares at the taxi driver’s terrorizing face, both the ghostly beings frustrate their observers’ expectations. Derrida’s notion of the visor effect epitomizes such an impact of apparitions on living beings. In the very scenes where Bryden gets frustrated with his unlived life, and where Mrs. Drover gets kidnapped by a demonic being, the reader discovers the effect of ‘spatial form.’ The ghosts in these two stories mediate the encounter between the past and the present, allowing the texts to break away from the traditionally chronological order of literature. Also, these apparitional beings point to the problems inherent in the modern condition represented in the texts. In “The Jolly Corner,” the romance plot leading from Bryden’s rendezvous with his alter-ego constitutes a textual space that offers a critique of the materialistic urban world surrounding it. On the other hand, the taxi driver’s burnt, or vacant face in “The Demon Lover” signifies the terror of the world war, which can make a vengeful return to the living beings at any moment.

키워드