The Characteristics and Significance of 'Nim' Texts in the Late Chason Period: Focused on Saseol-sijo and Chap-ga

조선후기 '님' 담론의 특성과 그 의미 : 사설시조와 잡가를 중심으로

This article intends to illuminate how the men. leading agents in Saseol-sijo - musical performers. writers of lyrics, patrons. composers. compilers of Sijo anthologies, audience. etc. - In the Late Choson period, viewed or recognized women and how their understanding of women was reflected in the texts. Working with texts with the theme of 'Love,' this article starts with categorizing two types of love: the first type, 'lovelorn heart' focusing on unilateral pining for a single lover who is absent now and the second type. 'physical love' concentrating on bilateral sexual intercourse. In addition to the types of love, the gender of poetic speakers, distinct from real poets is vital to characterize the discourse of love. According to these two factors. texts in question fall into four groups: texts that a female speaker displays her lovelorn heart('Type 1'), those where she speaks about her sexual experiences('Type 2'), those where a male speaker sings his lovelorn heart('Type 3'), and those where he describes his sexual experiences('Type 4'). Of these. 'Type 2' and 'Type 3' are key to understanding of the men's view of women. With respect to the configuration of the theme of 'Love,' it should be noted that in Korean literary history, the nim or a 'sweetheart' had signified the totality of value or a perfect entity which makes one's life meaningful and that 'Type 1,' the pattern that a female subject expresses her love toward male min, had constituted a traditional way to convey the theme of 'Love.' In terms of this connotation of min. a remarkable increase of 'Type 3' implying the increase of male speakers, reveals the extent to which women, the male speakers' min, accomplished their entry into a 'sacred area' -the position of mm-in which only men had occupied; females are focused and centralized. This article considers this phenomenon as an exhibition of the upgrade of women's significance and weight in the Late Choson society and as an index of 'modernity.' Meanwhile, given that most of the Saseol-sijo poets are men, the emergence of the 'Type 2' texts in which male poets have female speakers disclose their sexual experiences, demonstrates a representative example that women are degraded to be a means of men's pleasure; for this situation gives men more pleasure than when male speakers reveal their sexual experiences. Not only 'Type 2,' but texts group which basically belongs to 'Type I' and conveys the theme of 'Loyalty' through the female voice by substituting rulers-subjects relation for men-women relation, also falls under the same case. For men employ female voice as a poetic device in order to stress the theme of 'Loyalty' This article regards this phenomenon as an index of 'pre-modernity,' in the sense that in a pre-modem society, specifically in Early Choson, male-oriented value system dominates, thereby alienating women. As it is well known, the Late Choson is marked by a transitional period from a pre-modem society to a modem society. Therefore the ambivalence of the premodern and the modem can be found mixed in every segment of the society. The dual aspects of the masculine view of women in Saseol-sijo constitutes one example. The significance of the Saseol-sijo in Korean literary history can be found in this phenomenon.

사설시조에서는 남성화자가 여성 님에 대한 그리움과 연모의 정을 토로하는 작품들이 급증하고 이 현상은 잡가에서 극대화된다. 이런 텍스트들은 근대 이후의 시에서 '여성예찬' 혹은 '여성의 초점화'와 같은 주제가 활성화되는 내적 토대가 되며 여성에 대한 당대의 시각변화를 반영하고 있어 사설시조가 내포하는 '근대성'을 규명하는 중요한 단서가 된다. '님'에 대한 애정을 노래한 사설시조는 애정의 성격에 따라 '상사형'과 '육정형'으로 나뉠 수 있는데 사설시조에서 특별히 부각되기 시작하는 유형은 '남성 상사형' 즉 남성화자가 여성 님에 대한 그리움을 노래하는 유형이다. 남성 상사형 사설시조는, 이전의 한국 시가의 전형적 패턴이 되어 온 '여성상사형' 즉 여성화자가 남성님을 향한 그리움과 연모의 정을 표현하는 유형과는 달리 ‘여성'이 발화와 가치의 중심에 놓인다는 특징을 지닌다. '상사형' 텍스트에서 '님'은 시적 화자에게 삶의 의미를 부여하는 가치의 총체이자 발화의 중심이 되는데 '남성 상사형'은 곧, 남성만이 차지하던 '님'의 자리에 여성도 위치하게 되었음을 알려주는 징표가 된다. 본고에서는 이를 '여성의 초점화'라는 용어로 포괄하여 사설시조 및 잡가를 통해 그 구체적인 양상을 살폈으며 근대 이후의 시에서 '마돈나' '그대' '당신'으로 지칭되는 여성 님의 존재를 부각시키는 내적 토대가 된다는 것을 검토하였다.