• Title/Summary/Keyword: noble culture

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Existential Consciousness and the Meaning of Characters in André Malraux's Literary Works (앙드레 말로의 문학작품에 나타난 등장인물의 실존의식과 존재의미)

  • Oh, Se-jung
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.47
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    • pp.191-216
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    • 2017
  • Among 20th century Western ideologies (Western civilization), existentialism is a spirit of the times to restore humanity as rationality and advanced technology have driven mankind to impoverishment and death, experiencing the First and Second World War, Great Depression, Fascism and the Spanish Civil War. In his literature, $Andr{\acute{e}}$ Malraux records his existential agony of how mankind lives and faces death by questioning the fateful life and death of characters. For Malraux's characters, the absurdity of existence related to the human identity means self-examination. Malraux explores existential consciousness and actions of characters in the presence of a concept known as death relative to terror, revolution, and adventure. Malraux deftly addresses the concept of death in his literary works, and it has being emphasized as a central subject for philosophical speculation. In Les $Conqu{\acute{e}}rants$(1928), La Voie Royale(1930), La Condition Humaine (1933), L'Espoir(1937), Malraux suggested a philosophical thesis of the meaning of life through characters in tragic situations, and sought out the consciousness of being and the existential meaning through how the characters control their fate. Malraux, in such a tragic perspective of the world, portrays humanity, affirmation of life, and characters' consciousness and actions in denying death. The agony of death triggers escapist behavior such as having unpredictable instinctual desires such as gambling or smoking opium, but these are desperate struggles to flee from frustration and related to the question of one's existence. What is always emphasized with respect to Malraux's existentialism is the tragic metaphysics of the inevitable destiny of the human condition eventually leading to the question of how humans ultimately confront death. But as characters unite in times of war, revolution and adventure in the novel, such cooperative actions symbolizes a keen sense of solidarity reflecting a camaraderie that transcends individualism. Fellowship among people who voluntarily gather for the common cause of philanthropy and restoring humanity is possible because of the underlying human greatness to sacrifice for such a noble cause. Therefore, Malraux's camaraderie includes the victory of existentialism in creating a world of humanism.

Study on Tragic Characteristic in Lope's Drama La estrella de Sevilla (로뻬의 연극 『세비야의 별』에 나타난 비극성 연구)

  • YOON, Yong-wook
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.50
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    • pp.371-394
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    • 2018
  • La estrella de Sevilla, is a representative masterpiece of the Golden Age of Spain, and is a tragic work of Lope de Vega, who was a representative drama writer living in the 17th century. However, regardless of its great literary value, there are insufficient researches on this drama even in Spain, due to several controversies surrounding the truth about Lope's creation. Here, this research concretely investigated the tragic characteristic of this drama, by largely dividing it into the viewpoint of Aristotle and Shakespeare. Thanks to the noble social status of the characters and proper dialogue of the hero Sancho Ortiz in trouble, there seems to be no problem in performing the cathartic function that Aristotle mentioned regarding the work in his review. However, there are a few problems in the aspect of the 'hero's free will to resist the absolute fate,' which is fundamentally the essence of the associated Aristotelian tragedy. Because, there's no Hamartia in this drama, the core mechanism that forms the absolute fate, makes the statement that accordingly, no absolute fate or irresistible force of destiny is established. Rather, the tragic characteristic of this drama can be more properly investigated from the viewpoint of Shakespeare. As noted differently from Aristotle, Shakespeare considered that the tragic characteristic came from the hero's characteristic. According to him, tragedy starts from the hero's value view and personality, instead of the external factors such as an absolute fate. Actually, Busto's death and separation between Sancho Ortiz and Estrella, two tragic affairs of La estrella de Sevilla, were caused by the crooked selfishness of King Sancho IV, who abused his authority, and Sancho Ortiz' excessively blind loyalty to the King, rather than the irresistible event. In conclusion, in light of a lethargic and hopeless situation, with no eventual choice of options before the injustice of absolute power, is must have been a significant tragedy for the audience, witnessing the play's tragic ending.

A Study on the Usage of Miào(廟) and Gōng(宮) in Zhou Dynasty through the Mentions to Them in the Scripture Sentences of 『Chūn-qiū(春秋)』 - In the Process of Investigating the Existence of Zhou Dynasty's System to Regulate the Number of Zōng-miào(宗廟) 【1/2】 (『춘추』 경문에서의 묘(廟)·궁(宮) 언급을 통한 주대(周代)의 그 쓰임 사례 일고찰 - 주대의 묘수제(廟數制) 실재 여부에 대한 궁구 과정에서 【1/2】-)

  • Seo, Jeong-Hwa
    • The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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    • no.57
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    • pp.57-90
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    • 2018
  • In this discussion, as a way to verify the existence of the system to regulate Zhou dynasty's $z{\bar{o}}ng-mi{\grave{a}}o$(宗廟) numbers, the discussion was focused on '$mi{\grave{a}}o$ (廟)' and '$g{\bar{o}}ng$(宮)' in the records of "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$(春秋)". As for the parts where the contents of scripture sentences were not specific, the context of the case was investigated through the writings in "$Zu{\breve{o}}-zhu{\grave{a}}n$(左傳)" and other materials. In the cases of the usage of the letter, '$mi{\grave{a}}o$(廟 : a ruler's house, a nation's royal court)', in the scripture sentences in "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$(春秋)", the followings need to be noticed. In $t{\grave{a}}i-mi{\grave{a}}o$(太廟) of State $L{\check{u}}$(魯), nationwide events and a ruler's political ancestral rite, $d{\grave{i}}$(?) ritual, were performed, and fancy tools for ancestral rites used in those rituals were equipped. As for the $z{\bar{o}}ng-mi{\grave{a}}o$(宗廟) of a ruler of those times, a ritual of royal court, $ch{\acute{a}}o$(朝) rite, was performed. The usage case of the letter, '$g{\bar{o}}ng$(宮 : house)', is as the following. In $g{\bar{o}}ng$(宮) where a ruler's personal family lived was a family ancestral rite for them carried out. The record about the ornate decorating for the $hu{\acute{a}}n-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(桓宮), which can be said to have been the political base of $s{\bar{a}}n-hu{\acute{a}}n-sh{\grave{i}}$(三桓氏), three politically noble families of State $L{\check{u}}$(魯), is outstanding. The $x{\bar{i}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(西宮) during $X{\bar{i}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$(魯 僖公)'s reign and a $x{\bar{i}}n-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(新宮 : a newly built house) destroyed by fire at the third year of $Ch{\acute{e}}ng-g{\bar{o}}ng$(魯 成公), are assumed to have been a ruler's another house, such as the $ch{\check{u}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(楚宮) in which $Xi{\bar{a}}ng-g{\bar{o}}ng$(魯 襄公) used to enjoy staying, which is different from the viewpoint that it might be a $m{\acute{i}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$ shrine(?宮 : a house constructed as a shrine for the deceased father or the deceased grand father) that had been formed since Han dynasty. It has been discussed that, regarding the records that the '$w{\check{u}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(武宮) was built' and that the '$y{\acute{a}}ng-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(煬宮) was built', certain buildings were established with the symbols of '$w{\check{u}}$(武 : martial arts and force of arms)' and '$y{\acute{a}}ng$(煬 : to burn and get rid of everything)', and the events that a lord stood as its lord continued. Therefore, its main goal was not the performance of a dutiful ancestral rite by a ruler of those times for deceased rulers, for instance, $W{\check{u}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$(魯 武公) or $Y{\acute{a}}ng-g{\bar{o}}ng$(魯 煬公), but display of certain political symbolism through the ritual. This symbolism is most obvious with the $hu{\acute{a}}n-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(桓宮) and the $x{\bar{i}}-g{\bar{o}}ng$ house(僖宮). As a consequence, all $mi{\grave{a}}os$(廟) and $g{\bar{o}}ngs$(宮) in scripture sentences had the functions of a shrine in some part, but it has been verified that they were not the buildings set up as a shrine to follow '$z{\bar{o}}ng-mi{\grave{a}}o$(宗廟)'s number regulation system' of '$ti{\bar{a}}nz{\check{i}}-7-mi{\grave{a}}o$(天子七廟 : an emperor owns seven $mi{\grave{a}}os$(廟))' or '$zh{\bar{u}}h{\acute{o}}u-5-mi{\grave{a}}o$(諸侯五廟 : a lord owns five $mi{\grave{a}}os$(廟))'.