초점화의 변이 양상 연구 = A Study on the variations of focalization in Korean novels

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this paper, I examined diverse variations of focalization by analyzing the way of focalization in "The Red Room" of Im Cho＾l-woo, in "Busoksa" of Sin Kyong-suk and in "The River" of So＾ Jo＾ng-in. "The Red Room" is adapting an alternative focalization which is parallel in form and meaning. There are two first-person narrators in this novel: Oh Ki-so＾p and Choi Dal-sik. Both of the two write himself as 'I' and see facts from his own perspectives. The two 'I' are standing against to each other, and there is no possibility for them to communicate. This way of narration not only embosses two focalized interiors but also rouses the historical reality conduced to such situation.
"Busoksa" uses an alternation and union of focalization. The narrator of this novel focalizes on 'her' in the first chapter and on 'him' in the second chapter. In addition, this narrator doesn't know better than any of the focalized persons. However, in the third chapter, the narrator embraces the two subjects and call him and her together as 'them' while still maintaining the focalization of the earlier chapters available. This way of narration is giving a shape to a life that is seeking the possibility for solitary individuals to communicate and to coexist.
"The River" is composed of a dispersion of focalization. The focalization of this novel is 'dispersed' in that this novel adapts a discontinuous narration, in which a bundle of dialogue is cut out into several and is placed between paragraphs without an appropriate relationship, or a focalized narration is severed by another focalized one and continues later. The contents of a focalized narration has no relation with others, and each content of the focalized narrations is no better than an imagination without any causality or just a fancy. Moreover, the reason of focalization itself is very contingent in this novel. Thus, a fragmental being of human is revealed by the discontinuous narration and the dispersion of focalization.
The above ways of focalization, the parallel alternation, the alternation and union, and the dispersion, can be called a variation of the basic principle of focalization. When the variations are closely examined and analyses of the variations are accumulated, we can search the way to typify the specific narration and its focalizations of modern Korean fictions.