This treatise investigated he meaning of 5.18 in novel 「Complete Soul」 of Jung Chan. First, 1992 year when this novel was expressed, was a period of change of regime. The writer shows Ji, Sung-Soo, a fighter for democracy who finished university a...
This treatise investigated he meaning of 5.18 in novel 「Complete Soul」 of Jung Chan. First, 1992 year when this novel was expressed, was a period of change of regime. The writer shows Ji, Sung-Soo, a fighter for democracy who finished university and Jang, In-Ha, a typesetter who has not any political thought. He shows the life of persons who became a enemy against state through Jang, In-Ha. They care each other while facing against state violence by becoming a nonsubjective and pre-individual body. In comparision with this, revolutionary subject who was engaged in democratic movement, is shown through Ji, Sung-Soo. They who has the thorough revolutionary thoughts, made sure that their belief and end is absolute. So, they fighted to overthrow a military dictatorship. However, Ji, Sung-Soo was arrested by the police in May 1987 and succumbed to severe torture. Then he loses his faith and falls into despair. In the agony of despair, he realizes that the only way out of that despair is to emulate the life of Jang, In-Ha. The author says that the revolutionary subject trying to change political power through this work should accept a life like Jang, In-ha in 5.18, rather than asserting its own absoluteness. The writer's message of caution that the representative of the movement can be alienated from the public is too important. However, the question is whether Ji, Sung-Soo can become aJang, In-Ha. In other words, as long as one desires to be a“dominating apparatus”, can one become the body of 5.18, the“enemy of the state”? This is because 5.18 is the “extra-state”.