“아 바틀비여! 아 인간이여!”

정진만(Jin Man Jeong) 한국비평이론학회 2012 비평과이론 Vol.17 No.1

This essay aims to investigate the diverse aspect of “negativity” and its ethico-political potentialities in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” In The Parallax View, Slavoj Žižek focuses on the negative preference in Bartleby’s motto of refusal (“I would prefer not to”) arguing the significance of Bartleby’s ethical and political act to affirm “negativity.” For Žižek, negativity as a reconceptualization of Hegel’s dialectic signifies the incessant negation of the self-sameness (synthesis) that is assumed to be achieved by the negation of thesis, and works as the only hope of redemption. This study would explore Žižek’s such an idea of negativity, insurmountable gap and antagonism within itself, in “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” by examining the mutual relationship between Bartleby and other characters (lawyer-narrator, Turkey, and Nippers). In doing so, this approach would find Žižek’s idea of negativity at various levels, which is not fully explored by his own analysis because of his exclusive attention to Bartleby’s representative motto. First, this essay refers to Sigmund Freud’s metapsychology and Žižek’s another notion of the “parallax gap,” a key term in The Parallax View, in order to find the multiple aspects of negativity within the text. Arguably, the relationship between the lawyer-narrator and Bartleby can be understood as the relation of the parallax gap: the Ego/the Id, the pleasure principle/death drive, and repression/satisfaction. In this relationship, the latter is not simply the negation (resistance) of the former but the fundamental excess or “negativity,” as a (im-)possible condition of it. Next, this essay would focus on the narrator’s possibility of change from a flat character into a round (complex) one, as an evidence of the ethico-political impact by the Bartlebyian negativity. The narrator’s observation of the green and soft grass growing through the chasms at the Tombs and his remarks about his “emotions” in the grammatically plural form with regard to Bartleby implicate his self-distantiation from his previous egotistical and defensive attitude toward Bartleby. More important, the narrator’s belated disclosure of Bartleby’s past career at the Dead Letter Office suggests not only Bartleby’s own ethico-political identification (subjectivization) with the Dead Letter, an excess reminding us of the malfunction of the socio-symbolic network, but also the narrator’s similarly ethico-political awareness of the event, another basis of his possible sympathy with Bartleby.

19세기 마운틴 맨 유령의 현대적 귀환: 『레버넌트: 죽음에서 돌아온 자』에 나타난 백인 남성성

정진만 ( Jin Man Jeong ) 서울대학교 미국학연구소 2017 미국학 Vol.40 No.1

This essay explores racism, male-centrism, and nationalism (un)covered in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant, focusing on its way of invoking white masculinity. Portraying the hero, Hugh Glass, romantically as a white affectionate toward Native Americans and mixed-bloods, The Revenant is reticent in expressing the historical reality of Glass as an aggressive Indian fighter who contributed to westward expansion. Even worse, the film silently instills the long-lasted racist (mis)belief about Native Americans (plus mixed-bloods) as the ‘Vanishing People’ by making an unbridgeable distance between Glass and his Pawnee wife (and his mixed-blood son). This essay would allow us to see the film’s strategy forging white Americans’ masculine robustness within the levels of gender, race, and nation, where other racial and national groups are characterized as effeminate and immoral in a complex way.

문화,문학 : 동물 -타자에 대한 실코의 스토리텔링에 나타나는 포스트휴머니스트적 윤리- 정치성

정진만 ( Jin Man Jeong ) 경희대학교 비교문화연구소 2014 비교문화연구 Vol.35 No.-

This essay explores how Leslie Marmon Silko`s Ceremony and Storyteller encourage human`s sympathetic relationship with the nonhuman animal-Other, paying attention to her posthumanist voices against anthropocentric mistreatment of animals which is inseparable from white Americans` environmental and racio-ethnic subjugation of nature and Natives in the colonialist history of the United States. As a way of dissolving the problematic anthropocentrism and embracing the animal-Other as a fellow creature, Silko employs and transforms Native American oral tradition in her own idiosyncratic posthumanist storytelling. In order to highlight the ethico-political examination of the animal issue in her storytelling, this essay refers to contemporary posthumanist thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, and Gilles Deleuze who are all in their own ways critically engaged with Western metaphysical anthropocentrism. Arguably, in a similar vein with the posthumanist critics, Silko disrupts the mischievous hierarchical opposition of humans/animals that have directly or obliquely warranted violence against the animal-Other. In order to demonstrate Silko`s ethico-politicality concerning the animal issue, this essay inquires her critical perception of humans` misunderstanding (or misbehavior) toward animals in terms of the suffering and death of animals. Besides, Silko`s posthumanist storytelling of the animal`s gaze (as Derrida notes as an event of revealing human aporia and vulnerability) and "in-between" (as a reification of crossing the boundary of humans/animals) is discussed with the exemplification of Tayo`s encounter with a mountain lion and a bear-man Shush. The posthumanist approach to thinking about the animal-Other in Ceremony and Storyteller would shed light on the ethico-political significances of Silko`s storytelling in our time in peril of losing the tie between humans and nonhuman animals.

허먼 멜빌의 『사기꾼』에 나타나는 외양의 균열

정진만(Jin Man Jeong) 한국비평이론학회 2011 비평과이론 Vol.16 No.1

This essay investigates Herman Melville’s epistemology of subjectivity and the world, revealed in his representations of “appearance” in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade. Unlike his previous work Moby-Dick, engaged significantly in Kantian philosophy despite the author’s cautioning against Ahab’s monomaniacal pursuit of the transcendental truth, The Confidence-Man shows the author’s striking turn from his previous metaphysical, hierarchical, and binary frame of truth/appearance, embracing the latter as a new embodiment of truth, as implied in the subtitle of the work: “masquerade.” However, Melville’s recognition of appearance differs from postmodern simulacrum because his portrayal of “appearance” features its own inconsistency “immanent” in it. In order to explore pertinently the complexity of Melville’s epistemological implications of “appearance” in The Confidence-Man, this study is largely indebted to Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek’s psychoanalytic arguments of “minimal difference,” commonly emphasized in their theories of (1) the inner disparity of eye/gaze, (2) the difference between the subject of the enunciated and the subject of the enunciation, and (3) the logic of signifiers. This study helps recognize the author’s insightful perception of subjectivity and the world entangled with ideology as a veil covering the uncomfortable but undeniable real of antagonism and the relation of nonrelation.

어드릭의 『비둘기 재앙』에 제시된 부족 정의와 역사적 정의: 회복적 성격을 중심으로

정진만 ( Jeong Jin Man ) 경희대학교 글로벌인문학술원 2022 비교문화연구 Vol.67 No.-

이 글은 루이스 어드릭의 『비둘기 재앙』이 오지브웨족이 겪은 식민주의 역사와 관련해 정의의 문제를 어떻게 다루고 또 그것의 의의가 무엇인지 탐구한다. 이 글은 이 소설이 사법적 차원뿐 아니라 역사적 차원에서 주요 모티프로서 ‘회복적 정의’를 제시한다고 논의한다. 이 논의를 위해, 우선 이 글은 아니시나아베 부족 정의의 근간으로서 ‘미노-비마디지윈’(좋은 삶)이라는 아니시나아베 전통의 사유를 참조하면서, 이 부족 정의가 오지브웨 부족 판사 쿠츠의 조정법정에서 어떻게 실현되는지 살핀다. 둘째, 이 글은 이 소설이 오랫동안 오인된 역사적 진실을 드러내기 위해 그리고 북미원주민에 대한 백인들의 집단적 폭력을 비판하기 위해 기억의 중요성을 어떻게 강조하는지 밝힌다. 『비둘기 재앙』은 회복적 정의에 대한 다층적이고 복합적인 접근을 통해 원주민의 주권 회복, 치유, 끈질긴 생존의 비전을 그린다 할 수 있다. This essay explores how Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves deals with the issue of justice concerning the colonial history of the Ojibwes and what its significance is. This study argues that the novel provides ‘reparative justice’ as a leitmotif at an historical level as well as at a judicial level. First, this study explores how Anishinaabe tribal justice is carried out in Ojibwe judge Coutts’ peacemaking court, using the Anishinaabe traditional concept of mino-bimaadiziwin (the Good Life) as its foundation. Second, this study elucidates how the novel highlights the importance of remembering in order to disclose long-misconceived historical truth and to accuse whites of “mob violence” against Native Americans. The novel’s multifaceted and intricate approach to reparative justice anticipates the Native Americans regaining their own sovereignty, healing, and persistent survival.

루이스 어드릭의 『사랑의 묘약』에 나타나는 에로스의 정치성: 룰루와 마리를 중심으로

정진만 ( Jeong Jin Man ) 경희대학교 비교문화연구소 2018 비교문화연구 Vol.51 No.-

이 논문은 루이스 어드릭이 널리 호평 받은 소설 『사랑의 묘약』(1993)에 등장하는 두 여성인물(룰루 나나푸시와 마리 라자르 캐시포)에 초점을 맞추어, 북미 원주민이 ‘사라지는 사람들’이라는 오래되고 위험한 관념을 심문하고 와해시키는 저자의 정치적으로 저항적인 목소리를 탐구한다. 우선, 이 논문은 정부정책의 실행, 법, 종교, 문화 면에서 드러나는 미국 백인의 식민주의적 지배에 대항한 치페와족의 다층적 저항을 살펴보면서, 어드릭이 ‘사라지는 사람들’(‘명백한 운명’의 또 다른 표현)에 대한 의식이 근거 없음을 이야기하는 방식을 탐구한다. 둘째, 이 논문은 프로이트와 마르쿠제가 ‘에로스’(억압적 문명이 야기하는 위기에 대한 대안으로서 삶을 통합하고 유지하려는 에너지)에 대해 제시한 성찰을 참조하여, 룰루와 마리의 사랑의 포용력을 중심으로 치페와족의 삶과 유산이 유지되고 부활하는 것에 대한 저자의 비전을 밝힌다. 치페와 인디언보호구역에 가해지는 파괴적이고 억압적인 식민주의적 상황에도 불구하고, 룰루와 마리가 이들 자신과 더불어 부족공동체의 사랑과 유대를 강화하고 상호간의 갈등을 봉합하는 통합력은 역사의식에 기초한 어드릭의 ‘에로스’의 정치성을 밝혀줄 것이다. This essay explores Louise Erdrich’s politically resistant voice which interrogates and disrupts the long-lasting, pernicious misbelief about Native Americans as ‘vanishing people’. This essay chiefly focuses on the two female characters―Lulu Nanapush and Marie Lazarre Kashpaw―in the author’s widely acclaimed novel Love Medicine (1993). First, illustrating the Chippewas’ multifaceted resistances against white Americans’ colonialist dominance disclosed in their enforcement of governmental policy, law, religion, and culture, this essay investigates how Erdrich does not stop telling her story that the idea of ‘vanishing people’―another version of ‘Manifest Destiny’―is unfounded. Second, by referring to Freud’s and Marcuse’s speculation on ‘Eros’―the great unifying energy that preserves all life―as an alternative to the predicament caused by an oppressive civilization, this essay illuminates Erdrich’s vision of sustaining and regenerating the Chippewas’ tribal life and heritage that center on the embracing power of love reified in Lulu and Marie. Their undying energy consolidating their communal love and ties, despite the destructive, oppressive colonialist milieu inflicted on the Chippewa Indian reservation, sheds light on the author’s politics of ‘Eros’ predicated tightly upon her historical consciousness.

적극적 생존을 위한 뫼비우스의 띠: 어드릭의 『라운드 하우스』에 제시된 법과 아니시나아베 정의의 관계

정진만 ( Jeong Jin Man ) 경희대학교 비교문화연구소 2021 비교문화연구 Vol.63 No.-

이 글은 루이스 어드릭의 『라운드 하우스』가 북미원주민 아닌 남성들이 원주민 여성들에게 가하는 성폭력으로부터 이 여성들을 보호하는 문제와 관련해 미국의 법처리 절차에 존재하는 사법권의 혼란을 어떻게 심문하는지, 그리고 어떻게 법적 환경의 변화를 통해 원주민 여성들의 능동적 생존을 그리는지 탐색한다. 주장하건대, 어드릭은 린든(제럴딘을 강간한 백인)에 대한 결함 있는 법적 처리에서 드러나듯이 정의/법의 양립 불가능함에 대해 경고할 뿐 아니라 전통적/현대적 부족법의 조정, 그리고 불의의 연방 인디언법들을 바꿔야 한다고 압박하는 것을 통해 법적 환경을 변화시키는 비전을 그린다. 이 연구를 위해, 우선 이 글은 오지브웨 부족 판사 바질 쿠츠(현대부족법을 대표하고 그 법적 권한이 일련의 연방 인디언법들에 의해 심각하게 약화된, 피해자의 남편)와 조(어머니를 보호하기 위한 불가피한 선택으로서 전통적인 아니시나아베 정의 혹은 위인디구 정의에 호소하는 피해자의 아들) 사이의 긴장 관계에 초점을 맞춘다. 이는 린든, 즉 식민주의적 탐욕과 폭력을 구현하는 만족할 줄 모르는 백인 위인디구를 제거해야 한다고 느끼는 조에 대해 저자가 공감하는 태도를 이해할 수 있게 해준다. 둘째, 이 글은 조가 법적 관점의 차원에서 바질과 연결되었다고 느끼게 해주는 뫼비우스의 띠로서의 타이의 은유를 밝힌다. 이 은유를 통해 독자는 공동체의 지원 속에서 향후 부족 법률가로서의 조가 미국의 입법자들로 하여금 북미원주민의 적극적 생존을 위한 목소리를 들을 수 있도록 모든 노력을 기울이는 것을 상상해볼 수 있다. This essay explores how Louise Erdrich’s The Round House interrogates a jurisdictional maze in the US legal procedures concerning the protection of Native Women from pervasive non-Indian male sexual violence against them. Moreover, it also explores how the novel envisions their active survival by transforming the legal milieu. Arguably, the author questions the incompatibility of justice/law as shown in the deficient legal treatments of Linden (a white rapist of Geraldine). Furthermore, she advises how the legal environment should change through the negotiation of traditional/modern tribal laws. In addition, the author mentions why the unjust federal Indian laws should be altered urgently. For this study, first, this essay focuses on the tension between an Ojibwe tribal judge, Bazil Coutts (the victim’s husband, a representative of modern tribal law, whose legal power was severely declined by a series of federal Indian laws) and Joe (the victim’s son who appealed for traditional Anishinaabe justice or Wiindigoo justice, which was an unavoidable solution for protecting his mother). The author shows a sympathetic attitude toward Joe as he seriously wanted to remove Linden, the insatiable white Wiindigoo with colonial greed and violence. Second, this essay elucidates the metaphor of tie as a moebius strip, which allows Joe to feel connected to Bazil in terms of their legal perspectives. Through the metaphor, the reader envisions Joe as a future tribal lawyer, who is supported by his community and will do his best to make American lawmakers hear his appeal for restoring the Natives’ sovereignty.

일반논문 : 햄릿의 유령: 셰익스피어의 『햄릿』에 나타난 "형상"의 성격

정진만 ( Jin Man Jeong ) 경희대학교 인문학연구소 2004 인문학연구 Vol.8 No.-

『새벽으로 지은 집』(House Made of Dawn)에 나타나는 어머니 - 대지에 대한 모마데이의 언어적 창조와 정치성

정진만(Jeong, Jin-Man) 한국현대정신분석학회 2016 현대정신분석 Vol.18 No.2

F. 스콧 피츠제럴드의 『밤은 부드러워』에 나타난 남성성의 불안과 환상

정진만 ( Jin Man Jeong ) 미국소설학회(구 한국호손학회) 2018 미국소설 Vol.25 No.3

In The Far Side of Paradise, a highly acclaimed and authoritative biography of Fitzgerald, Arthur Mizener colors the conjugal relation between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda as love. However, Fitzgerald implicates the impossibility of it in his autobiographical novel Tender Is the Night. In the novel, not only the marital relationship between Dick and Nicole but the illicit one between Dick and Rosemary altogether fail. This essay explores how such an impossible sexual relationship relates to Fitzgerald’s own innermost struggle to promote masculinity within his gender consciousness. This essay compares the two texts, The Far Side of Paradise and Tender Is the Night, in order to infer male anxiety from the crisis of masculinity and subsequent gender politics dissolving it. Additionally, this essay refers to Renata Salecl’s psychoanalytic explanation of ‘doubling’, a re-appropriation of Jacques Lacan’s idea of sexuation, as a way of elucidating Dick’s choice not to advance his passionate relationship with Rosemary. This study would allow us to see that Tender Is the Night provides questionable fantasy that Dick’s phallic potency can remain intact or be regained properly if only Nicole does not exist. Also, this study would shed light on how Dick’s self-control evading a passionate but perilous relationship with Rosemary arises from his anxiety that his manhood might be lost by the imagined overwhelming enjoyment from the relation. This essay helps us understand that Fitzgerald was actually engaged in his contemporary male anxiety and fantasy within and without his literature.