젠더의 우울과 초과하는 여성들 - 마녀와 광녀 탐색, 오정희와 박완서를 중심으로 -

초록

Femininity has been constantly excluded from the realm of knowledge - madness, hysteria, the sublime, nature - as contrary to modern rationality. In this context, 'witches and madwomen' are symbolic figures that show the neurotic symptoms of masculine modernity. Hysteria, which has been recognized as a feminine disease, is outside the ‘normality’ defined by men and not only shows masculine knowledge and discourse power, but also represents a form of rejection against it. The European witch hunts demonstrated men's anxiety and fear about women's power, depriving women of control over their bodies and childbirth and making women's reproductive labor invisible, thereby accelerating the accumulation of capital. If the madwoman is a metaphor for the passive, resistant female existence erased by the violence of patriarchy, the witch is a symbolic image of the active and threatening female labor and power sacrificed by capitalist violence. The representation of the ‘crazy bitch’ that appears in Oh Jung-Hee’s novel shows that what lies outside of patriarchal ideology is crime and death. The housewives in Oh Jung-Hee's novels constantly leave the home, but they have no choice but to return because they have experienced violence towards them. For instance, in Soul of the Wind, the trauma of the Korean War and familial massacre, which is cited as the cause of the main character’s tendency to run away from home, is a disguised alibi for the desire to run away, which can be criticized as nothing more than a ‘mere impulse to deviate.’ The violence experienced in Oh Jung-Hee's Madwoman and Runaway is a fictional performativity to recreate the meaning of ‘home.’ In contrast to Oh Jung-Hee's women who are portrayed as madwomen who are trapped 'inside the house' and see escapes as violations, the women in Park Wan-Seo's novels are witches who fight against men and usurp their power in the permitted space called 'inside the house.' Significantly, the wife, who renders the man incapacitated by taking away his ability to support his livelihood and his capital, and the ‘mother’ who gives all desires and meaning of life to her ‘children’, obliterating their independence and will, are similar to the image of the witch Medea. Moreover, the adultery and immorality, anxiety about sexuality, patriarchy, infidelity, revenge, crime, etc. shown in Famine in the City and Shadow of Desire are similar to the formula of a ‘Makjang drama (Korea's excessive melodrama style)’. The reason these extreme dramas captivate the female public is because they are the only real positions given to ‘full-time housewives’. In conclusion, the issues of violence and excess presented in ‘Witches and Madwomen’ call for an investigation into the area limited to ‘women’s place.’

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