어느 스타일리스트의 詩的 모험

임영봉(Lim Young-bong) 중앙어문학회 2002 語文論集 Vol.30 No.-

This article purposes to examine a system of Lee Seung-hoon's non-object poetics and find out material basis of post-war Korean modernistic poetry and Lee's position in poetic history. Lee Seung-hoon is a representative poet who continually pursues to write both poems and poetics and make a genealogy of modernistic poetry's movement of Korea. So he makes us know a process of development of post-war Korean modernistic poetry's movement in both a creation and a theory. His modernism is based on a view of the world of existentialism and literary theory of formalism. Lee Seung-hoon thought personalities and techniques important because he regarded poetry as an expression of despair and alienation. It is a style that non-object poetics emphasizes first of all. His non-object poetics has obtained important meaning in the history of Korean modern poetry in point that it succeeds and overcomes the experimental modernism such as Kim Chun-su's in post-war.

김동리의 「까치소리」 다시 읽기

임영봉(Lim, Young-bong) 중앙어문학회 2015 語文論集 Vol.61 No.-

살의 충동에 사로잡힌 ‘봉수’라는 주인공이 살인 행위에 이르게 되는 과정을 그리고 있는 ?까치소리?의 주제에 대해 작가 김동리는 화엄사상이라는 불교적인과론의 표현을 의도했다고 주장하고 있다. 그러나 상식적인 독해에 의거할 때 작가의 그런 의도는 실패한 것으로 판명된다. 작가 김동리의 의도와 작품 내용의 불일치 문제는 ?까치소리?에서 작가의 ‘오인’이나 ‘착각’이 작동하고 있다는 사실을 환기시켜주고 있으며 이러한 성격의 오인은 김동리의 내면을 지배하고 있는 무의식과 모종의 욕망을 드러내 주고 있다. ‘이중 액자식 구성’이라는 ?까치소리?의 복잡한 이야기 형식 또한 작가의 억압된 무의식이 작용한 결과이다. ?까치소리?에서 작가의 유년기 체험과 정신적 외상은 ‘모성적 초자아’의 대두와 ‘죽음 충동’으로 나타나고 있다. 아버지의 권위를 대리하고 있는 모성적 초자아는 주인공 봉수의 정상적인 삶을 방해하면서 외설적인 쾌락을 부추기는 존재이다. ?까치소리?의 마지막 장면에서 주인공 ‘봉수’는 쾌락원칙의 경계를 넘어 충동적인 향락의 주체 자리에 서게 된다. 이 충동적 향락의 주체인 ‘봉수’의 폭력적 ‘파괴 충동’은 궁극적인 차원에서 죽음을 통해 무기체의 상태로 되돌아감으로써 영원한 안정과 평화를 얻고자하는 작가의 무의식의 표현으로 볼 수 있다. This is an essay that attempts to unveil the multilayered meanings and new possibilities of interpretation of Kim Dong-ri’s literature, focusing on the “The Cry of Magpies”(Contemporary Literature, 1966.10). “The Cry of Magpies” carries with it a special meaning and a problematic status in the context of Kim’s literary world. It relates how the death drive of the main character, Bong-su, eventually leads to an act of murder. Kim argues that the story’s theme is the expression of Hwaom Idealism, a Buddhist idea related to causationism. However, based on reading in the common sense, it seems that the intentions of the author fail to be achieved. The inconsistency between the author’s intentions and the content of “The Cry of Magpies” brings to attention the fact that a misconception or illusion may be at work in the author’s thinking. the author’s stubbornness, which derives from this type of misconception, could be seen as an expression of the subconscious and a sort of desire that dominates Kim’s inner world. In terms of structure, “The Cry of Magpies” has a double-double narrative or frame story; that is, it not only consists of an external story and an internal story, but the internal story also has another frame story within. The use of this complex story structure may be seen as an irruption of the author’s suppressed subconscious. The significance of “The Cry of Magpies” comes from the fact that it is an expression of the author’s childhood experiences and psychological trauma. In the story, the psychological trauma of the author manifests itself through a maternal superego and a death drive. The maternal superego, which substitutes for a father’s authority, is a distracting factor that gets in the way of a normal life for Bong-su; it is also a source of obscene pleasure. In the very last scene, Bong-su is reborn as a subject of impulse that goes beyond the pleasure principle, through the act of murder. The nature of the destructive violence shown by this impulsive character could be seen as an inverted expression of the author’s desire to acquire eternal stability and peace by returning to a state of nothingness in death.

김현 초기(初期) 비평(批評) 연구

임영봉 ( Lim Young-bong ) 한국어문교육연구회 2007 어문연구(語文硏究) Vol.35 No.2

본 논문은 한국 현대문학 비평사에서 중요한 위치를 점하고 있는 비평가 김현의 初期 비평세계에 대한 해명을 목적으로 삼고 있다. 청년 김현의 평단 데뷔작 「나르시스 시론」은 ‘프랑스 象徵主義 詩學’과 ‘無神論的 實存主義’의 수용을 토대로 한 것으로 김현 문학인식론의 윤곽을 제시하고 있다. 데뷔 직후에 씌어진 「앙드레 브르통이 서정주에게 주는 편지」, 「불빛이 말하는 이유」 등의 산문은 그가 文學靑年期의 발상법을 청산하고 비평가로 거듭 나는 순간의 ‘過渡期的 意識 상태’를 노정하고 있다. 이 산문들 속에서 김현은 새로운 문학의 수립을 갈망하는 認定鬪爭的 욕망을 노출하고 있으며 超現實主義의 顚覆 정신과 프로이트 精神分析學에 대한 깊은 관심을 보여준다. 강력한 批評的 自意識의 형성과 小說의 原理에 대한 이론적 추구의 과정을 드러내고 있는 「批評考」는 청년기의 김현이 추구했던 知的 冒險의 결산이자 批評家로서 正體性의 확립을 의미한다. Kim, Hyun is one of the critics who has given major and enduring influences on literary criticism since the Korean War. He was one of the new generations who experienced a bit affluent society recovered after the tumult of the war. Based on his new and innovative recognition of the zeitgeist he was taking the lead of the struggle against ‘symbolic violence' since the 1960s. The evaluation on his works is still debated as much as his status in Korean literary history. In my view, the first thing that needs to be done is to evaluate his works with more objective point of views. This study will be focused on a close examination of his early works with the need of reevaluation. When he started his career as a critic, Kim, Hyun studied general knowledge about criticism and constructed his own critical point of view. With the formation of his own critical thought he made an array of projected critical works continuously. His starting work as a critic was “Narcissist Poetics”. Based on French symbolist poetics and Atheist- Existentialism, “Narcissist Poetics” was the epistemological cornerstone of his thought on literature. His “A History of Love Affairs,” “A Letter from Andr챕 Breton to Seo Jung-joo,” “The Reasons of that Light tells,” revealed the intermediate progress to be a maturing critic out of early literary thought. By these works Kim, Hyun expressed his desire to establish innovative literary criticism and showed his great interest to subversive aspects of surrealism and Freudian psychoanalysis. His “Consideration on Criticism” studied histories and objects of criticism, the way how to analyse literary texts with a broad view. This proved that it was the product of his early intellectual exploration and the establishment of his critical view on literature.

비평가 김현의 삶과 문학 : 김현평전 기술을 위한 試論

임영봉(Lim Young-Bong) 중앙어문학회 2010 語文論集 Vol.44 No.-

The purpose of this paper is to perform a basic work for restoring the life story of Kim, Hyun as a critical biography. The critical biography in which his life is illustrated from all angles within the huge frame of the times in which he lived, is expected to provide all the knowledge of critic Kim, Hyun which is still unknown to us. The description of this critical biography has an important role in leading the studies of Kim, Hyun properly. The basic system of all critical biographies is mainly organized in chronological order. The important thing in this kind of organization is to reveal the life trace of the subject evidently. In order to do this, the organization of the critical biography of Kim, Hyun is as follows: childhood, adolescence, manhood I, and manhood II. These four steps of the history of growth are corresponding to the imporatant experiences and events, put differently, fatal moments which means turning points in his whole life. On the basis of the steps, the basic system of the critical biography of Kim, Hyun is constructed as follows : section 1 childhood : birth to the time he went up to the capital, section 2 adolescence : debut into literary world to the first publication of the literary review, section 3 adolescence I : the first publication of 〈Literature and Intelligence〉 to ceasing publication, and section 4 manhood II : Ceasing publication of 〈Literature and Intelligence〉 to his depth.

일제강점기 한국 근대문학에 나타나는 다방공간의 재현 양상 - 소설 장르를 중심으로 -

임영봉(Lim, Young-Bong) 우리문학회 2021 우리文學硏究 Vol.- No.70

일제강점기 다방 혹은 카페 공간의 문학적 재현 양상은 서구의 차(茶)문화가 유입되고 발전해나가는 문화사적 배경 속에서 이해될 필요가 있다. 1910년대 이후, 본격적으로 유입되는 홍차와 커피 중심의 ‘다방문화’는, 술과 여급이 중심이 되는 일본식 ‘카페문화’의 대두 현상에 의해 서서히 퇴조했다고 볼 수 있다. 이에 따라 다방공간의 재현 양상도 초기의 근대적인 감수성과 이국적 정취 중심의 상상적 내면적 의미를 띠는 이미지에서, 술과 여급이 등장하는 유흥 중심의 일상적이고 퇴행적인 의식을 담고 있는 이미지로 변화해 나갔다. 이광수의 신문연재소설 <개척자>(1917)는 커피라는 서구적 기호품이 수용되는 과정의 풍속과 현실을 잘 보여주고 있는 경우이다. 1920년대에 발표된 박영희의 <백수의 탄식>과 정지용의 <카페 · 프란스>는 서구적 감수성과 이국 취향의 정서에 지배되는 다방문화 수용 초기의 이미지를 보여주고 있다. 이 두 편의 시 작품은 근대적 문화공간에 대한 수용이 이념에 따라 굴절되는 이후의 양상을 예고하고 있다는 점에서 주목을 요구한다. 일제강점기 소설의 다방공간에 대한 재현은 이광수와 염상섭, 채만식같은 작가를 비롯하여 ‘카프계열’의 박영희와 김남천, ‘동반자 작가’였던 유진오와 이효석, ‘구인회’의 박태원과 이태준, 이상 등의 작품에서 다양한 양상으로 나타나고 있다. 일제강점기 한국 근대소설에 그려진 다방공간은 인간 존재가 뿌리를 내리고 안주할 수 있는 원초적 장소의 상실 국면, 즉 ‘집’이면서 ‘고향’이거나 ‘조국’으로도 상징될 수 있는 삶의 장소 상실에 대응하는 정신적 표상으로 나타나고 있다. 일제강점하의 상황에서 다방이라는 공간은 뿌리를 상실하고 떠도는 존재의 피난처인 동시에 자신의 내밀한 꿈을 보호하고 실현해나가는 내면적 상상적 장소라는 의미를 가지고 있다. 박태원의 <방란장 주인>에 나타나는 헤테로토피아적인 이상향의 이미지는 이러한 측면을 잘 보여주고 있는 경우이다. The literary representation of tea rooms or cafés during the Japanese colonial era needs to be understood from the cultural background of the introduction and growth of Western tea culture in Korea. The “tea room culture” (based on black tea and coffee), which was introduced in earnest starting in the 1910s, slowly disappeared with the emergence of the Japanese “café culture,” featuring mostly alcohol and barmaids. Accordingly, the representation of the tea room underwent a transformation from its early image with an imaginative, inner meaning centered on the modern sensibility and an exotic atmosphere to a quotidian and decadent image centered on entertainment, permeated by the odor of alcohol served by barmaids. The first work identified thus far featuring the tea room is Lee Kwang-soo’s Pioneer(1917), a serial novel published in a newspaper. This work illustrates the customs and reality of a time when the Western culture of coffee was introduced. Park Young-hee’s Sigh of the Jobless and Jung Ji-yong’s Café France, published in the 1920s, show images of the early years of the tea room culture when it was dominated by Western sensibility and exotic tastes. These two poems call for attention because they foretell how the introduction of modern cultural spaces is affected by ideology. Representations of the tea room during the colonial era are found in different forms in works such as those of Lee Kwang-soo, Yeom Sang-seop, and Chae Man-sik; Park Young-hee and Kim Nam-cheon of the Korean Federation of Proletarian Art (KAPF); Yoo Jin-oh and Lee Hyo-seok, who were sympathizer writers; and Park Tae-won, Lee Tae-joon, and Lee Sang of the Guinhoe (Nine Person Association). The tea room depicted in novels during the colonial era corresponds to a mental representation expressing the loss of the primal place where people can take root and settle down, i.e., the loss of a living space symbolized as a “house,” “home,” or “fatherland.” Under colonial rule, the tea room signified a temporary shelter for wandering people without roots and an inner, imaginary place that protects and realizes one’s intimate dreams. The heterotopian image in Park Tae-won’s The Owner of Bangranjang is a case in point.

4ㆍ19세대 비평 담론의 형성과정

임영봉(Lim Young-bong) 우리문학회 2003 우리文學硏究 Vol.16 No.-

This essay is to trace out the emerging process for the literary critics named 4.19 generation. First of all, I focus on at once the question concerning with what critical material the critics have carried out their critical work by defining critical activity as a practice and the way they have formed their own interpretative community by internally organizing their own discourses. Both socially and culturally fertile soil has enormously influenced the process the literary critics have made their own discourses. The soil includes such the surrounding as the restructuring and expansion of universities, the development of human sciences, the launching of various periodicals, and the enlargement of intellectual discourses. The critical group, who have been equipped with various and profound<br/> intellectual experience under such fertile environment, has created some new critical discourses by de-constructing the established critical system through the struggle against the older critics. While Moonji group centered on Kim Hyun has cherished the autonomy of literature based on individualism and liberalism, Changbi group led by Back Nak-chung has established a enlightened and progressive view for literary criticism by accepting the enlightened tradition the Western civic society have inherited. Furthermore, Sangwhang group led by Lim Hun-young and Koo Joong-seo has cherished a radical view founded on the social function of literature.<br/>

노동체험의 소설적 형상화

임영봉(Lim Young-bong) 중앙어문학회 2006 語文論集 Vol.35 No.-

As a writer, Lee has a special status in the history of literature of Korea. He, belonging to ‘KAPF’, was one of writers who stayed in North Korea since ‘the Liberation of Korea’ and produced literary works there. What is important here is that Lee's works are not classified into those during ‘the Japanese Occupation’ and ‘the Liberation of Korea’ but they are related to one another. Such relevance, which is a characteristic of Lee's, is realized as ‘figuration of labor experience’. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine how labor experience, the core of his works, was realized in his creative activities. In ‘A Labor Family (1947)’, written right after ‘the Liberation of Korea’, he seemed to try to figure people of labor class who works in a fertilizer plant. ‘A Son of the Party (1961)’, written with a fertilizer plant setting like the above work, is a novel in which he figures the revolutionary ideas of the labor class. In ‘A Beacon (1975)’, his late work, he figures completely both labor oriented class consciousness and Kim, Il Sung centered partisanship. The aspects of the figuration of labor experience in the novels shown by Lee play an important role in the sense that they correspond to the development of the history of literature of North Korea.

김동리 소설의 구도적 성격

임영봉(Lim Young-bong) 우리문학회 2008 우리文學硏究 Vol.0 No.24

김동리 문학의 일관되고 고유한 성격은 구도적 차원에서 비롯되고 있다. 김동리 문학의 구도적 성격은 그가 견지했던 형이상학적 문제의식과 긴밀하게 연결된 것으로, 인간 존재의 유한성에 대한 발견과 더불어 인간적 삶의 비극적 운명에 대한 도전과 극복의 방향으로 그의 문학을 인도해 나갔다. 이 과정에서 가장 중요한 역할을 담당했던 사상정서적 요소가 바로 불교였다. 김동리의 문단 데뷔는 그의 불교 입문과 동시에 이루어졌는데 당시의 청년 김동리가 품고 있었던 ‘소설쓰기’와 ‘참선 수행’이라는 두 개의 열망은 그를 구도적 의미의 불교소설 창작의 길로 이끌어갔다. 김동리 문학과 불교가 처음으로 조우하는 장면에서 씌어진 「率居」 삼부작은 불교적 주제의식의 담지와 함께 작가의 자전적 이야기라는 점에서 중요한 의미를 띠고 있다. 이 연작은 ‘괴로움’(苦)과 대면하고(「率居」), 괴로움의 덩어리인 ‘나’(我)를 직시하며(「剩餘說」), ‘나’에 대한 집착을 버림으로써 마침내 새로운 삶을 얻게 되는(「玩味說」) 청년 김동리의 모습을 담고 있다. 인간의 공동운명이 무엇인가를 추구하는 구도행위로서의 문학에 대한 김동리의 인식은 일제 말기의 세대논쟁 과정에서 ‘개성과 생명의 究竟 追求’라는 논리로 처음 나타났다가, 해방 이후 ‘究竟的 生의 形式’이라는 개념으로 최종적으로 정립된다. 구경 탐구라는 문학적 이념형의 수립 이후 김동리 문학 가운데서 불교는 여타 사상정서적 요소들에 대하여 부차적인 위치에 놓이게 되는 것처럼 보이지만, 『사반의 십자가』 이후 김동리는 다시 불교에 눈을 돌리게 된다. 후기의 김동리가 나아갔던 불교의 세계는 창작집 『까치소리』에서 인연관과 윤회사상의 수용으로 나타나고 있다. 후기의 김동리는 궁극적 차원에서 ‘無’에 귀착되는 불교적 세계관에 의지하여 세속적 의미의 현실과 비극적인 인간의 운명에 맞서고자 했다. 그것은 영원한 생명을 얻고자 했던 작가 김동리의 마지막 노력, 최종적인 구원의 시도라는 의미를 띠고 있다. Kim's coming out in the literary world synchronized with an entrance upon Buddhism. At that time his two desires, novels and the Zen-Buddhist meditation, led himself to the world of creation of Buddhist novels. Solgeo trilogy, a first stage that met Kim's literature and Buddhism, is important because it contains a Buddhist consciousness and autobiographical pieces. Solgeo trilogy described a process which face 'anguish'("Solgeo"), face up to 'self, anguish itself("Ingyeosul"), and gain a new life by deserting the cling to 'self ("Wanmisul"). It well expresses a process that young Kim Dong-ni internalizes Buddhist world view. Kim's acceptances of Buddhism have greatly influenced on forming his literary position. According to 『Solgeo』 trilogy, art(literature) has to pursue a universal problem of man and common fate, no expression of personal agony. Kim's recognition of literature as seeking after truth pursuing the common fate of man, at first was revealed as 'a supreme pursuit of personality and vitality', and was finally established the conception of the highest form of life after the restoration of independence. Buddhism has occupied a secondary position in Kim's Novels after establishment of literary ideal type, the highest form of life. After that, however, Kim has still maintained a relationship with Buddhism. We can see it through the creation of Deungsinbul, A Magpie Song, and A Bird in the World of Beyond.

김복근 시조 연구

임영봉(Lim, Young-bong) 중앙어문학회 2012 語文論集 Vol.51 No.-

The purpose of this research is to review the current assignments of modern Sijo that can be summarized as re-interpretation of the tradition and creative succession through the prospect of poetic world of Kim Bok-Geun. The eponymous poet Kim Bok-Geun has continuously created poems for roughly 30 years, and he is one of the poets who represents the modern Sijo world. The poet Kim Bok-Geun has published 4 of his collections of poems and 2 of essays about the poems so far. The development process of the poetic world of Kim Bok Geun is divided into three periods including the initial period, middle period, and the late period. What corresponds to the ‘initial period’ is the poetic world of ‘InGwa-Yool (Principle of Causality, 1985)’. In this book, the poetic spirit of Kim Bok-Geun and poetic imagination are contained, and they are natural experience and plant-like imagination. The poet in this period particularly discovers about himself for the meaning of his existence and he attempts various dimensional poetic experiments. What corresponds to the ‘middle period’ in the development process of the poetic world of Kim Bok-Geun are ‘For flying(1992)’ ‘Click! One Resident’ Bird(2001)’. In these two collections of poems, the poet strongly criticizes the modern society and civilization. The poet lampoons materialism and human alienation phenomenon, and he attempted to express the desires of human beings that are confined under the reality through the motif of ‘bird’. The ‘Fog, Going through the Body(20l0)’ that was recently published can be regarded as the ‘late period’ since it shows the poetic spirit and the new changes of the poetic world. Here, what forms the most important poetic themes are the mystery of the ecosystem and awedness towards the life of the nature. It is composed of many poems that denounce the environmental pollution as well as the destruction of ecosystem. The development process of poetic world of Kim Bok-Geun in the aspect of poetic thesis can be summarized as the loss of nature and the process of recovery. Also, in the aspect of history of literature, he can be evaluated to have contributed to the modernization of Sijo by attempting various experiments in order to contain modern Poetic Theme onto the poems in traditional literature format.

김동리 문학의 原체험

임영봉(Lim Young-Bong) 강원대학교 인문과학연구소 2010 인문과학연구 Vol.0 No.27

김동리 문학 가운데서 단편 ?늪?이 놓인 위치는 매우 특별한 것임에도 불구하고 이 작품에 내포되어 있는 중요한 의미는 그동안 간과되어왔다고 볼 수 있다. 그 이유는 ?늪?이 우리에게 널리 알려져 있는 김동리 문학의 일반적 해석틀내에서는 잘 포섭될 수 없는 ‘낯설음’, 체계일탈적인 성격을 가지고 있기 때문이다. 전체로서의 김동리 문학 체계를 염두에 둔다면 그 가운데서 오점이거나 얼룩과도 같은 위치를 점하고 있는 ?늪?의 의미를 제대로 읽어내기 위해서는 정신분석이라는 도구가 필요하다. ?늪?의 문제성은 가족이야기에 근거하고 있다는 점에서부터 비롯된다. ?늪?의 가족서사는 정신분석학적 의미의 가족로맨스를 다루고 있는 경우이다. 중요한 것은 이 가족로맨스에 등장하는 주인공 소년 ‘석이’의 외상이 작가 김동리의 외상에 다름 아니라는 사실이다. ?늪?의 가족로맨스는 작가 김동리의 유년기 체험의 표현이다. 이 작품이 그리고 있는 환상적 상상력과 작가의 유년기 가족 체험의 상관성은 김동리 문학이 근거하고 있는 체험의 원형이 무엇인가를 정확히 드러내주고 있다. ?늪?의 주인공 석이의 이해할 수 없는 행위의 반복은 증상의 표현이자 ‘억압된 것의 회귀’를 의미한다. 이야기 속에 그려진 숲과 늪의 상호소통은 삶과 죽음이 뒤엉켜있는 원초적 욕망의 세계를 펼쳐 보여준다. ?늪?의 가족로맨스는 아버지에 대한 적대의식과 어머니의 부재로 특징지워진다. ‘아름답고 착한 어머니’라는 소년 석이의 환상 속에서 그의 어머니는 이상화된 신성한 존재로 대두하고 있다. 그런 어머니의 상징적인 죽음은 주인공 소년 석이 혹은 어린이 김동리에게 깊은 상실감을 초래했으며 그 결과로서 어머니라는 존재를 신성화하고 금지된 신화의 주인공으로 만들었다고 볼 수 있다. ?늪?이 드러내고 있는 모성의 상실에 대한 애도 행위는 작가의 유년기 체험에 고착되어있는 내면의 자아를 떠나보내는 의식이라는 의미를 획득하고 있다. ?늪?이 보여주는 상실에 대한 애도 행위는 어떤 측면에서 작가의 유년 시절에 대한 청산의 의미를 제기하고 있다. 이 작품이 작가에게 그토록 중요한 의미를 띠고 있는 이유 또한 거기에 놓여있는 것으로 판단할 수 있다. ?늪?에 담긴 죽음에 대한 동경은, 역으로 생에 대한 집착과 욕망의 표현으로 해석할 수 있다. 김동리 문학은 ‘죽음’에 대한 매혹과 동시에 ‘삶-생명’에 대한 강한 애착을 보여주고 있는 경우이다. 김동리 문학의 성공한 대표작들은 인간의 내부에 도사리고 있는 ‘삶과 죽음의 본능’이 각축을 벌이는 투쟁의 현장을 담고 있다. 그것은 작가 김동리의 글쓰기-창작행위를 지탱하고 있는 힘의 원천으로 볼 수 있다. 여기서 ?늪?은 김동리 문학의 새로운 해석 문제와 관련하여 거기에 이르는 또 다른 입구 앞으로 우리를 인도하는 하나의 시금석이라는 의미를 가지고 있다. The family narration of Swamp is a case which contains a family romance in terms of psychological meaning. The external injury of Sukee, a young boy, who is the main character appearing in the family romance is nothing more than that of Kim Dong Lee, its writer. The family romance in Swamp has the meaning of the expression of Kim Dong Lee’s childhood experience, which plays the most important role in developing an individual’s character. The family experience of the writer and fantastic imagination depicted in this work shows what the prototype of experience on which Kim Dong Lee’s literature relies is. The repetition of Sukee’s behaviors which cannot be understood in ?Swamp? means the expression of symptoms and ‘the return of something oppressed.’ The mutual communication between forest and swamp described in the story displays the world of basic desires in which life and death are intertwined with each other. The family romance in Swamp is characterized as a sense of animosity towards his father and the absence of his mother. The mother emerges as an idealized being who is ‘a beautiful and good mother’ among Sukee’s images of his mother. The symbolic death of such a mother led him to fall into a deep sense of loss. It can be said that the depth of this irrevocable sense of loss caused him to consecrate the being of a mother and make her a heroine in a forbidden myth. The fantasy in Swamp is based on an impulse to go back to ‘the state of inorganic substance’ which means permanent peace from the perspective of Sigmund Freud and a desire to go back into ‘the imaginative world of the integration of mother and son’ from the narration of Jacques Lacan. When we see it from the perspective of Sigmund Freud, condolence behavior in Swamp has the meaning of a ceremony to send out the writer’s inner self which is fixed onto his childhood experience. The condolence behavior shown by Swamp toward loss has in a sense another meaning of wiping out the writer’s childhood. It can be also judged that the reason why this work is so significant to the writer lies in it. Longing for death in Swamp can be reversely interpreted as the expression of obsession with and desire for life. It is a desperate struggle against death. In reality, Kim Dong Lee’s literature shows both captivation toward ‘death’ and strong attachment to ‘living-life’. His successful works are a front line where ‘the instincts of life and death’ embedded in the inside of human beings are fighting against each other. It can be seen as the source of the power which sustains Kim Dong Lee’s writing-creative behaviors.