북한 ‘실화문학’의 민중성 연구 - ‘사실’과 ‘허구’ 사이의 해석적 진실을 중심으로

초록

North Korean roman a clef is a contemporary text and a novel genre that North Korean people currently enjoy. Roman a clef in North Korea is peculiar literature in which “fact” and ‘fiction” are overlapped. South Korean researchers have continued to try to read North Korean realities from North Korean literature. However, in North Korean literature also, novels presuppose fiction. North Korean literature also is not the reflection of reality but a product of literary imagination. North Korean roman a clef is literature created based on real persons and events. In North Korea, roman a clef is defined as literature in which creativity of the writer is displayed, although on the basis of reality. And as its characteristics, ‘timeliness and mobility’ are mentioned. Since roman a clef is produced in the midst of contemporary reality, it can positively interpret North Korean reality from a populist perspective. This writer attempted positive interpretation and symptomatic reading of North Korean literature through North Korean roman a clef in which ‘fact and fiction’ are strained. Through this, this writer attempted to establish the limitation of literature and the utility of literature imagined by North Korean literature. North Korean literature has the characteristics of propaganda dealing with political issues. In its core, there are political agendas such as literature for shaping chieftain figure and military-first revolution literature. Treasures Are Deep in the Ground analyzed by this writer is the work that heralds the beginning of the Kim Jeong-eun era. This novel is noteworthy in the fact that it shows the ruling operation of North Korean society by novelizing the sacrifice of Park Tae-seon who was a real person. The Necessary Person and The Cornerstone are the works in which aspirations for the enhancement of the life of the people are contained. These works are significant in the aspect of vividly revealing what difficulties North Korean society underwent in the North Korean famine era although they depict changing North Korean society. Wealth is a controversial work. It grasps North Korean people’s hard labor realities from a feminine perspective and in it, painful efforts to defend family members even under the mobilization system are embodied. North Korean roman a clef shows the present of people’s life inadvertently and reveals people’s desires. This can be said to be the crack of texts arising from the tension between ‘fiction and fact.’ When roman a clef is interpreted from a populist perspective, the positive interpretation of the situations of North Korean people becomes possible. The writers aim at literary imagery by mobilizing imagination but the limitation of facts is so clear that North Korean people’s attitude toward life cannot help being recorded in the work. In this sense, roman a clef can be said to be a novel that reveals people’s imagery that stands against the governmental system. When the positive interpretation and symptomatic reading of roman a clef are attempted, North Korean people’s non-systemic characteristics can be materialized. Even in North Korean novels that have strong ideological characteristics, the ‘cracking’ of interpretation is possible. This is because of the universality of literature, the freedom of imagination, and the concreteness of imagery. Roman a clef can be said to be a noteworthy genre of North Korean literature that contains the imagery of the people standing against the governmental system of North Korea.

키워드