• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.217-247
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• 2019

This research paper intends to examine the intertextuality of Klaus Mann's novel Mephisto (1936) and István Szabó's film Mephisto (1981) and how the derivative contents (i.e., film) accepted and improved the schematic aesthetics of conviction in original contents (i.e., novel). In general, the aesthetics of conviction is applied to criticize the state socialism of the artists of the Third Reich or the ideology of the artists of East Germany from a biased ethical perspective. Mephisto is also based on the aesthetics of conviction. Thus, it would be meaningful to examine the characteristic similarity and difference between Klaus Mann's real antagonist (i.e., Gustaf Gründgens) and fictional antagonist (i.e., Hendrik Höfgen) from a historical critical perspective. In this process, an aesthetic distance between the real and fictional antagonists would be secured through the internal criticism in terms of intertextuality. In this respect, the film aesthetics of István Szabó are deemed to overcome the schematic limit of the original novel. The conviction in both the novel and film of Mephisto pertains to the belief and stance of a person who compromised with the state socialism of Nazi Germany, i.e., succumbed to the irresistible history. Klaus Mann denounced Mephisto's character Höfgen (i.e., Gründgens in reality) as an "Mephisto with evil spirits" from the perspective of exile literature. For such denunciation, Klaus Mann used various means such as satire, caricature, sarcasm, parody and irony. However, his novel is devoid of introspection and "utopianism", and thus could be considered to allow personal rights to be disregarded by the freedom of art. On the contrary, István Szabó employed the two different types of evil (evil of Mephisto and evil of Faust) from a dualistic perspective (instead of a dichotomous perspective of good and evil) by expressing the character of Höfgen like both Mephisto and Hamlet (i.e., "Faust with both good and evil spirits). However, Szabó did not present the mixed character of "Mephisto and Hamlet (Faust)" only as an object of pity. Rather, Szabó called for social responsibility by showing a much more tragic end. As such, the novel Mephisto is more like the biography of an individual, and the film Mephisto is more like the biography of a generation. The aesthetics of conviction of Mephisto appears to overcome biased historical and textual perspectives through the irony of intertextuality between the novel and the film. Even if history is an irresistible "fate" to an individual, human dignity cannot be denied because it is the "value of life". The issue of conviction is not only limited to the times of Nazi Germany. It can also be raised with the ideology of the modern and contemporary history of Korea. History is so deeply rooted that it should not be criticized merely from a dichotomous perspective. When it comes to the relationship between history and individual life, a neutral point of view is required. Hopefully, this research paper will provide readers with a significant opportunity for finding out their "inner Mephisto" and "inner Hamlet."

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.28
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• pp.363-386
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between theory of Confucian moral cultivation and meditation. Recently our community is more interested in 'a disease of mind'. A view of world, life, values which derived from the distorted perception of 'a disease of mind' can not be treated by psychiatric methods. In this sense, 'a disease of mind' is different from psychiatric illness. In this reason, alternative therapies applying philosophy, literature, arts, and humanities are attracting attention. Meditation is also one of them. In general, Meditation has been developed in Buddhism, but its method is closely related with Confucianism. Buddhist meditation has a pessimistic view of the reality in human life, but that of Confucian philosophy has laid stress on the reality and ego in human life. At this point, the Confucian meditation could provide a clue of solution for us in treatment of a disease of human mind. So Confucian moral cultivation and meditation have a great significance for the treatment of this disease as a methodology. In general, mental healing or psychotherapy has been proceeded by way of dialogue. 'Talking Cure' was conceived to let clients themselves recognize their current situation and find out the problem: "what happened and what's wrong" in their minds. But it does not have a high possibility of successful cure for subjects who are in the state of frustration, confusion, and lost of value. And also it is very difficult to apply to special institutions such as correctional institutions and military soldier who are targeted by current application of Humanities therapy. On this sense, it seems to be valuable to apply Confucian cultivation of mind and meditation which have emphasized the importance of mind-control for this. This study tries to examine theoretically how to relate the Confucian cultivation of mind with meditation, and to suggest a model of Humanities therapy that could be applied by Toe-gye's 『The Method on Preservation of Human mind(活人心方)』. Although Confucian cultivation of mind could present a meaningful theory for curing the disease of mind, it is very difficult to put the theory into practice. It is because Confucian cultivation of mind in itself is a kind of instruction that you need to do in all of your life, and essentially it is difficult to expect a temporary effect by performance or practice. So a cure model of Confucian cultivation of mind will be suggested on this assumption and limitations. This model is attempted on the main purpose of Humanities therapy in accordance with the development of a Korean model.