「벨트라피오의 저자」에 나타난 삶과 예술

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 21세기영어영문학회 2004 영어영문학21 Vol.17 No.2

Life and Art in “The Author of Beltraffio” Cho, Hung-Kuhn(Sunchon National University) An attempt is made in this paper to analyse Henry James's critique of aestheticism in “The Author of Beltraffio”(1884) in relation to his “The Art of Fiction”(1884) published two months later in the same year. Both works have been misunderstood by some critics as the writings supporting the theory of aestheticism. But James had a determined attitude against aestheticism almost throughout his life. Although James was influenced in his search for form and style by his contemporary French realists as is shown in “The Art of Fiction” and “The Author of Beltraffio,” he criticised them for their lack of serious interest in life itself. Of course it cannot be denied that James shows in these writings a certain extent of sympathy with their arduous endeavours to achieve the art of novel, but his sympathy is at an end at this very point. Mark Ambient in “The Author of Beltraffio” has been misunderstood by many critics as an aesthete, but he is evidenced as a genuine Jamesian artist in this paper. An obsessive aestheticism can be found in the narrator of this work because art precedes life in his ‘art for art' point of view. He shows almost always a Wildean attitude to life and art that can be expressed as a sentence “Life imitates art.” His cold aesthetic stance unintentionally causes the horrible death of an innocent child Dolcino. His cold world of aestheticism lacks genuine feelings and sympathy for other people, and thus destroys life itself. This is the core of the Jamesian critique of aestheticism in his writings on French realists.

헨리 제임스의 「대가의 교훈」 다시 읽기 -심미주의 비판의 관점에서

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 21세기영어영문학회 2010 영어영문학21 Vol.23 No.2

This paper examines Henry James`s criticism of aestheticism in "The Lesson of the Master"(1888). For a long time most of critics have considered St. George`s advice to be that of Henry James on the basis of James`s biography, considering it as Modernist aesthetics of alienation or as a expression of ideology of patriarchal system. But we cannot evaluate the ultimate value of this work within this frame. We can grasp James`s criticism of St. George`s stance as an aesthete only when we discuss the work within the context of salvation of society through art in the late 19th century. Then, we can see through St. George`s statements about the renunciations of artists for the perfection of art and recognize him as a spokesman of aestheticism. Even Paul has some preconceptions of aestheticism and, thus, falls a victim to St. George`s advice.

헨리 제임스의 『신성한 샘물』에 나타난 심미주의자

조흥근(Cho Hung-Kuhn) 신영어영문학회 2002 신영어영문학 Vol.22 No.-

This paper has a purpose to analyze the anonymous first person narrator in The Sacred Fount as an aesthete. James’s criticism of aestheticism goes back to his earlier novel Roderick Hudson and keeps flowing through The Portrait of a Lady, The Tragic Muse, The Spoils of Poynton up to this work and The Golden Bowl. In this sense his creative process is that of his response to the contemporary social atmosphere. In this work James criticizes a fin-de si?cle cultural phenomenon which is represented as Newmarch, a country house in the suburbs of London. The world of Newmarch is similar to that of Matcham in The Golden Bowl, both of which lost the traditional virtues of a country house. At the core of this fin-de-si?cle reality stands the narrator, whose role in this world is to detect and analyze human relationships scientifically. His key words in his role as a psychological detective are “scientific method” and “scientific law.” But his “scientific” search for the “fine symmetry” turns out to be a kind of mask for his superficial relationships with other people in Newmarch. Absorbed in his own “scientific method” and artistic whole, he knows nothing of others’ pains and sorrows. As Oscar Wilde escaped from the ‘routine world’ of reality and felt at home in his own world of artistic whole, so the narrator in this work escapes into his “kingdom of thought” built upon his “scientific method,” which turns out to be “a house of cards” at the end of the novel. Therefore, his attitude toward life is similar to that of the aesthetes James himself deals with in his critical writings. He lacks “morality,” or “moral beauty” in James’s terms, for he doesn’t have deep interests in life itself but in his superficial “scientific law.”

비판과 타협: 『포인튼의 전리품』에 나타난 심미주의에 대한 헨리 제임스의 태도

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 근대영미소설학회 2001 근대 영미소설 Vol.8 No.2

The purpose of this paper is to discuss James`s response to aestheticism in The Spioils of Poynton. The Spoils of Poynton(l896) has been considered "the first absolutely pure example of the James method" by many James critics, which means that this work makes a way to James`s late novels. Besides, this work can be classified as one of James`s late novels according to James`s response to aestheticism. Aestheticism is one of James`s major concerns throughout his literary works. James`s harsh criticism of it can be found in his literary criticism and early and middle novels. The key point of his criticism is that aestbetes have no serious interest in life itself because they are addicted only to perfect beauty. But James`s criticism of aestheticism becomes milder and milder in his late novels. Moreover, James gropes for a way to compromise with aestheticism, as is found in The Spoils of Poynton, The Golden Bowl(l904) and "Gabriele D`Annunzio"(l904). Even in The Spoils of Poynton James criticizes Mrs Gereth`s aestheticism through Fleda`s subtle point of view, in that although Poynton stands for high European culture that has to be preserved, Mrs Gereth`s addiction to the works of art in Poynton goes beyond the legitimate tactics to preserve them, as a result of which she comes to lose her own humanity. James goes further and looks for a way through Fleda to combine love for perfect beauty and morality, which is a well-known subject in James`s novels. But Fleda`s love for "perfect beauty" of Poynton is almost equal to that of Mrs Gereth and she does not get over completely the limitation of Mrs Gereth`s aestheticism, as is shown in her demand for "perfect beauty" in her personal relationship with Owen. Therefore, The Spoils of Poynton can be read as a transitional novel in his attitudes toward aestheticism.

『융단 속의 무늬』에 나타난 희극적 풍자와 삶과 예술의 전도

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 21세기영어영문학회 2016 영어영문학21 Vol.29 No.1

“The Figure in the Carpet” has been considered as one of the most ambiguous tales of Henry James, and as a tale on the absence of absolute truth or absolute meaning. But, seen from the perspective of James’s consistent interests in the relation of life and art in his artist tales, it can be read as another variation of that relation, one that depicts an inversion of life and art. According to James himself, this tale was meant to criticize the lack of “analytic appreciation” and the “numbness of general sensibility” “in the Englishspeaking air.” Thus, in the story, three critics are lured and tested for their critical qualifications. They are meant to discover the “secret”-“the figure in the carpet”- of Hugh Vereker, a famous but unpopular writer. But they can’t achieve the goal because of their “limp curiosity,” and because, as critics who have abandoned their real lives and true human sympathy, they have a strong avidity for fame and success. The inversion of life and art is the natural result following from their quest for the “secret.” The anonymous first-person narrator is an especially cold, obsessed observer who inflicts violent injury on other people’s hearts and commits an ‘Unpardonable Sin’ like the scientist characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tales.

헨리 제임스의 비평문들에 나타난 도덕성 개념

조흥근(Hung Kuhn Cho) 미국소설학회(구 한국헨리제임스학회) 2001 헨리 제임스 연구 Vol.6 No.-

『워싱턴 스퀘어』에 나타난 심미주의와 계산된 의도의 양상

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 21세기영어영문학회 2015 영어영문학21 Vol.28 No.4

This paper has an aim at analyzing the aspects of aestheticism and calculated intention in Henry James’s Washington Square. Sloper, Morris, and Mrs. Penniman, the three major characters around Catherine have a tendency to manipulate and control other people, especially Catherine, with calculated intentions to get them or her to their own advantage. Sloper and Morris compete with each other in order to control or take possession of Catherine just like a property, and Mrs. Penniman tries to meddle with the love affairs of Catherine and Morris with her own melodramatic imagination. All the intentional activities of the three persons are closely combined with their aesthetic tendencies. Being ‘natural’ and ‘sincere’ is suggested as Morris’s motto but proves to be just his pose as an aesthete. The genuine meanings of the words ‘natural’ and ‘sincere’ belong only to Catherine in Washington Square. Her sincere efforts to love both her father and Morris and to determine her fate with her own will are the genuine criticism of the above three persons, and here lies the real nature of Henry James’s social criticism of American society in Washington Square.

아놀드와 와일드 사이에서 : 『비극의 뮤즈』에서의 내쉬의 역할

조흥근(Hung-Kuhn Cho) 신영어영문학회 2004 신영어영문학 Vol.28 No.-

This paper aims at examining Henry James’s stance as an artist against the aestheticism in the late 19th century in England by explicating Gabriel Nash’s roles in The Tragic Muse(1890). Although several critics insist that Nash is a spokesman of Henry James, he proves to be an aesthete in this paper. Of course, he can be misunderstood to be James’s spokesman, because Nash’s roles as a center of the double plot and as a stimulator to Nick Dormer can mislead readers as to his genuine figure as an aesthete, and because his terms and ideas appear to be those of Matthew Arnold. But with a little more serious analysis his terms and ideas turn out to be those of aesthetes such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wild rather than those of Arnold to whom James owes quite a lot. Nash is an aesthete in that he is a dilettante enjoying art for art itself by escaping from reality. He thinks every phase of reality is nothing but a reflection of ‘dirty’ reality and therefore he escapes from reality into the world of art. James’s criticism of Nash’s aestheticism is culminated in his representation of Nick Dormer’s growth as a genuine artist. In this work Nick and Miriam Rooth are represented as genuine artists with bright visions of the salvation of society.

「사자들을 위한 제단」과 데까당스

조흥근(Cho Hung Kuhn) 새한영어영문학회 2009 새한영어영문학 Vol.51 No.1

This paper purports to analyze "The Altar of the Dead" (1895) as a tale reflecting the British Decadence of the 1890s. It has been praised high as one of the trilogy of Henry James's late tales. But some critics say that this tale is a great failure because of its "morbid sentimentality", "unpleasantness", and "creepiness", which are directly or indirectly related to the Decadent sensibility. Some elements of the decadent sensibility can be traced in this work. George Stransom makes an "immense escape from the actual" which is disparaged as 'the ordinary routine world' by the Decadents. Stransom's escape into his inner world and making it an artistic whole by setting up "The Altar of the Dead" are the same traits as those of Des Esseintes in J. K. Huysmans's A rebours. Stransom confuses moral problems with aesthetic ones and finally replaces the one with the other as Marius does in Manus the Epicurean, Water Pater's philosophical novel. In conclusion, Stransom's Decadent sensibility causes him to fail in loving his partner fully in the actual world. Thus, this tale actually comes to be a morbid sentimental elegy of his death.

「애스펀의 서류」: 삶과 예술의 주제에 의한 또 하나의 변주

조흥근 ( Hung Kuhn Cho ) 한국영미문화학회 2016 영미문화 Vol.16 No.3

This paper aims at analyzing Henry James’s “The Aspern Papers” in terms of one of remarkable topics among English intellectuals in the late 19th century: ‘What can replace religion?’ or ‘redemption of society by art.’ John Ruskin, William Morris, and Matthew Arnold discussed an important role of art in the amelioration of society. But, following their ideas on art, Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde gave it a status of religion and an absolute value alienated from society and life. The anonymous first person narrator worships Jeffrey Aspern as a “god” and he is his “minister.” In order to serve his god he carries the war into Miss Bordereau’s palazzo and tries to get Aspern’s papers from her. He entices Misses Bordereau into helping him get the papers by working the garden and giving flowers to them. He plays a role of a gallant gentleman asking a favour of a beautiful woman, which is but his deception. Actually, he is immeasurably insensitive to Tita’s feelings and has no common human sympathies, because he worships a god of art without life. Juliana Bordereau is called an “old witch” by the narrator, but she doesn’t consider Aspern’s papers as a fetish just as he does and even in the face of death she is practical and positive in securing Tita’s future happiness. Tita who is simple and ingenuous depends on her aunt, at first, and then on the narrator, but she initiates her life of liberation and love and develops her “force of soul.” Juliana and Tita are quite sure of the primacy of their present life unlike the narrator who proves to be only an actual thief as a result of his absolute devotion to the god of art.