모리 오가이와 <舟> (Mori Ogai and Boat)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국일본근대학회
· 수록지 정보 : 일본근대학연구 / 42호 / 215 ~ 230페이지
· 저자명 : 김옥지

초록

군의 관료로서의 첫 좌절을 겪던 小倉‘좌천’시절 오가이는 수필「鷗外漁史とは誰ぞ」를 발표하여 관료의 입장이든 문학자의 입장이든 자신의 입장을 표명했다.
오가이는 자신의 위기상황을 표현한 수필에서 ‘장자의 빈 <舟>’를 인용해 주변의 상황에 개의치 않고 문학 집필에만 몰두하겠다는 의지를 보였다. 빈 <舟>의 의지는 위기의식 속에서도 새로운 목표를 지향하는 인식이 표면화된 도식으로 보인다. 그것은 小倉부임을 마친 오가이는 오랜 공백기를 깨고 매월 한편이나 두 편을 연이어 발표하면서 그의 문학사에 있어서 ‘풍숙시대’를 맞았기 때문이다.
빈 <舟>의 의지는 오가이 위기상황의 역경을 극복하려는 대처방법이라 할 수 있었고 이 같은 의식은 10년 후에 발표한 「灰燼」과 만년에 집필한 「伊沢蘭軒」에도 나타냈다.
「灰燼」은 장편을 시도한 소설이었지만 미완성작으로 끝낸 작품이다. 「灰燼」이 작가의 구상력 부족으로 미완성 작품으로 끝나버리자 오가이는 작가로서 치명적인 비난을 받았다. 「灰燼」에서 주인공 節蔵가 주변 인물과의 갈등에서 빈 <舟>와 같이 대처하려는 의지를 밝혔고 그것이 유도자의 길이라고 나타냈다. 이를테면 빈 <舟>의 의지는 주변과의 갈등을 풀어가기 위한 하나의 방편을 제시한 것이다. 節蔵의 의지는 오가이 자신에게 투영되었고 이러한 의지로 장편의 역사소설 「伊沢蘭軒」을 완성했다. 「伊沢蘭軒」의 집필에 성공한 오가이는 같은 해 장편역사소설 「渋江抽斎」를 연재하기 시작하고 이듬해 「北條霞亭」을 발표했다. 빈 <舟>의 의지는 오가이 만년의 작품에까지 반영되어 오가이의 정신적인 바탕에 확고하게 자리 잡고 있음을 보여주었다.
오가이는 위기상황이었던 小倉‘좌천’시절 지위나 명예에 대한 욕심을 비우고 문학 집필에 전념하고자 빈 <舟>의 의지를 고안해냈다. 결과적으로 그의 문학사 있어서 상당한 업적을 남겼음을 고려해보면 빈 <舟>의 의미는 오히려 역설적인 표현이었다.

영어초록

Mori Ogai has published his essay entitled “鷗外漁史とは誰ぞ“ during his brief stints as a high-ranking military bureaucrat relegated in disgrace to Kokura (小倉). Through this, he has articulated his own perspectives/thoughts not only as a military bureaucrat, but also as an author. In particular, he has showed in this essay depicting his personal hardships his will to dedicate himself to his literary activities, irrespective of difficult situations surrounding him by referring to “Boat(舟)”. What the will connotes in “Boat (舟)” is perceived to be by and large synonymous with the manifestation of Mori Ogai’s awareness pursuant towards his new objective/ambition under his personal predicaments. This can also be further reflected upon by the fact that since him completing the period of his posting to Kokura(小倉), he substantially resumed his literary activities out of his long-term breaks by consecutively publishing one or two works every month, which eventually paved the way for the prime in the entire history of his literary activities.
The will in “Boat(舟)” can be implicitly understood as his way of overcoming predicaments, whose ramification is also detectable respectively in “灰燼“ published in about a decade and “伊沢蘭軒“ in the final years of his literary activities. Mori Ogai initially attempted to publish “灰燼“ as a novel, but it unfortunately ended up being uncompleted in the end. “灰燼“ led to considerably tainting his reputation as an author for the harsh criticisms from the then Japanese literary community that the major reason for this work to be labelled as an uncompleted (and unsuccessful) work lies first and foremost in its author’s lack of imaginative/narrative capability that it was supposed to need. In this work, he depicted its protagonist “Setsujō(節蔵)” as a person who showed his will to cope with his conflictual relations with its other characters just as the way “Boat(舟)” attempted to do, through which to demonstrate this as the road a conductor/guide should follow. In other words, the will in “Boat (舟)” proposed one of the ways for its protagonist’s troubles with others to be able to be resolved. Setsujō’s will thus became projected onto Mori Ogai himself, whereby his history novel “伊沢蘭軒“ could be completed. After his success in completing “伊沢蘭軒“, Mori Ogai started running his another history novel “渋江抽斎“ as serials in the same year and then published “北條霞亭“ the year that followed. The will in “Boat(舟)” has continued to reflect the latter years of his works, leading to helping lay a firm foundation for his (literary) mentality in the long run.
During his stints being relegated to Kokura that is recorded as “crisis years” to him throughout his whole life, Mori Ogai devised the will in “Boat(舟)” as a sort of literary tool through which to dedicate himself solely to his literary activities by abandoning all of the social status/positions and reputations he has previously relished as a high-ranking military bureaucrat. However, given that it has eventually made considerable contributions to the overall history of his literary activities, the meaning of the will in “Boat(舟)” tends to be ironically paradoxical.

참고자료

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