근대에 갑자기 밀도 있게 나타난 건달형 인물전설이 근대문학으로서 어떤 경향성을 지니며, 이 전설을 향유한 당시의 민중은 어떠한 근대성을 추구했는가 하는 것이 이 논의의 과제이다. 이 시기에 건달형 인물들의 출현은 타고난 능력을 갖추고 있는 데도 사회적으로 제 역할을 하지 못하여 건달 노릇을 할 수밖에 없는 전근대적 현실을 드러낸다. 따라서 이들은 기존의 질서와 제도, 권위, 가치관 등에 반기를 들고 저항하며 해체를 시도한다. 겨울에 삼베옷을 입고 여름에는 솜옷을 입어서 자연질서를 뒤집어엎는가 하면, 양반의 권위를 존중하는 것처럼 하면서 그 횡포와 허위를 드러내서 웃음거리로 만든다. 반상의 신분질서를 전도시키는 것이다. 더 구체적으로는 관리들의 권력남용에 맞서며 공권력의 특권에 도전하고, 제도권력을 무력화시킴으로써 중세질서를 무너뜨리고 근대성을 추구한다. 신분체제는 물론 조상제례와 내외법, 여성의 정절과 같은 중세적 가치관을 의도적으로 파괴하고 가부장제를 해체함으로써 민중적이고 민주적이며, 여성주의다운 각성을 촉구한다. 중세 지배집단의 질서와 공권력, 도덕률에 과감하게 맞서서 유쾌한 승리를 이끌어낸다는 점에서 건달형 인물은 영웅다운 면모를 지닌다. 건달형 인물은 근대적 영웅으로서 고대적 영웅의 ‘창조’와, 중세적 영웅의 ‘수성’과 달리, 기존질서를 뒤집어엎는 ‘전복’에 무게중심을 두고 있다. 그러므로 건달형 인물은 민중적 성격을 지닌 전복과 해체의 영웅이라 할 수 있다. 전복의 대상이 되는 중세질서는 신분질서와 제도권력, 가부장적 가치관, 유교적 의례 등이다. 민중들은 중세체제를 유지하는 기존의 모든 질서와 규범, 제도, 윤리 등에 대해 의도적으로 맞서서 뒤집고 저항하며 적극적으로 해체하는 변혁적 인물의 이야기를 통해서 인간해방의 근대세계를 추구하며 상상 속의 혁명을 이야기판에서 누렸던 것이다. 이러한 근대적 변혁의지를 고려할 때, 우리 사회는 더 자유로워야 하고 더 성찰적이어야 하며 더 해체적일 필요가 있다. 근대적 가치관마저 비판적으로 재인식하는 해석학적 지평융합이 기대되는 방향이다.

To find out what kind of tendency the increasing number of legends of scamp like people had in the modern literature and to find out what kind of modernity was pursued by people enjoying such legends at the time are the purposes of this discussion. The appearance of scamp like people at the time shows the premodern reality of talented people failing to fulfill ones' social duties and end up being scamps. Hence they attempt to dissolute by resisting to the existing rules and regulations, authority, sense of values and such. Overthrowing the natural order by wearing linen robe during winter and padded clothes during summer; making fun of the nobility by exposing their oppression and falsity while pretending to respect their power. They reversed the social status system of the nobles and the means. In detail, they stood against the power abuse of the government officials, challenging the exclusive rights of the government authority, destroying the medieval order by making systemic authority impotent and pursued modernity. They demanded popular, democratic and feminine awakening, by purposely destroying the medieval sense of values like the status system as well as rituals for ancestors, avoidance of the opposite sex and female chastity and breaking up patriarchy. From the point of carrying out the delightful victory against the order, power and morality of the medieval government, the scamp like people have heroic appearances. The scamp like people, as the modern heroes, have their weight on subversion, the overthrowing the existing oder, unlike the ancient hero's 'creation' and the medieval hero's 'brutality'. Therefore, the scamp like people are the heroes of subversion and dissolution, for the people. As the subject of subversion, the medieval orders are the status system, patriarchal sense of values, systemic authority, Confucianism courtesy and such. Through the stories of reforming people intentionally resisting against the existing medieval order, rules, regulation, ethics and such, the people pursued the modernity of human liberation as they enjoyed the stories of imaginary revolutions. Considering such modern reformation will, our society needs to be more free and more reflective and more dissolving. It is towards the direction of expecting interpretive, critically re-recognizing even the modern sense of values.

To find out what kind of tendency the increasing number of legends of scamp like people had in the modern literature and to find out what kind of modernity was pursued by people enjoying such legends at the time are the purposes of this discussion. The appearance of scamp like people at the time shows the premodern reality of talented people failing to fulfill ones' social duties and end up being scamps. Hence they attempt to dissolute by resisting to the existing rules and regulations, authority, sense of values and such. Overthrowing the natural order by wearing linen robe during winter and padded clothes during summer; making fun of the nobility by exposing their oppression and falsity while pretending to respect their power. They reversed the social status system of the nobles and the means. In detail, they stood against the power abuse of the government officials, challenging the exclusive rights of the government authority, destroying the medieval order by making systemic authority impotent and pursued modernity. They demanded popular, democratic and feminine awakening, by purposely destroying the medieval sense of values like the status system as well as rituals for ancestors, avoidance of the opposite sex and female chastity and breaking up patriarchy. From the point of carrying out the delightful victory against the order, power and morality of the medieval government, the scamp like people have heroic appearances. The scamp like people, as the modern heroes, have their weight on subversion, the overthrowing the existing oder, unlike the ancient hero's 'creation' and the medieval hero's 'brutality'. Therefore, the scamp like people are the heroes of subversion and dissolution, for the people. As the subject of subversion, the medieval orders are the status system, patriarchal sense of values, systemic authority, Confucianism courtesy and such. Through the stories of reforming people intentionally resisting against the existing medieval order, rules, regulation, ethics and such, the people pursued the modernity of human liberation as they enjoyed the stories of imaginary revolutions. Considering such modern reformation will, our society needs to be more free and more reflective and more dissolving. It is towards the direction of expecting interpretive, critically re-recognizing even the modern sense of values.

scamp like people, legend, modernity, medieval order, modern hero, human liberation