유보된 치유, 1910년대 지식인의 글쓰기와 질병 = Deferred Healing: The Writings and Illnesses of Intellectuals in the 1910s

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Healing refers to the process by which humans overcome a vulnerable state and regain health. From a medical perspective, it means treating illness and restoring the mind and body to a normal state. In literature as well, characters often experience the process of falling ill and being healed, which is closely related to the flow of the narrative. For example, the progression and resolution of conflict in a story often parallels a character's experience of illness and recovery.
A good example of this can be seen in the depiction of “hwa-byung” (an anger-related illness) in classical novels. Characters who suffer from hwa-byung and are subsequently healed complete a narrative in which they overcome a disordered world and attain fortune and happiness. This narrative structure continued even after the emergence of new novels and adaptations. Although the names and symptoms of illnesses changed with the introduction of modern medicine, the narrative of healing itself remained largely unchanged.
However, when intellectuals―especially Korean students studying in Japan―began to take center stage in novel writing, this narrative underwent changes. Illness became an effective device for revealing the self-identity of the suffering intellectual. In particular, tuberculosis and neurasthenia, along with the images adopted by the existing Romantic movement, became even more effective in representing the tormented intellectual. Many intellectuals sought to express their heightened sensibilities through such illnesses, as seen in various letters and novels published in literary coterie magazines.
As a result, the characters in these intellectuals’ novels do not undergo the process of healing. Instead, by taking their illnesses to extremes, they chose to highlight the conflict between themselves and the outside world. In terms of self-representation, this act of deferring healing from illness was, paradoxically, a way to achieve a more fundamental form of “healing.”