황건의《개마고원》(1956)은 북한문학사가 일관되게 긍정하는 작품이다. 이 작품은 1950년대를 대표하는 북한의 장편소설로 해방기 토지개혁을 둘러싼 계급갈등과 북한의 미래에 대한 낭만적 형상화가 돋보인다. 논자는 전후 시기인 1950년대 북한의 공식 담론이 긍정하는《개마고원》의 이면을 읽어냄으로써 북한의 공식적 기록이 안고 있는 숨겨진 욕망을 도출해내려 한다. 이 텍스트는 초기 북한 정권의 활력이 어떤 갈등의 은폐와 유토피아적 욕망 확장 속에서 생성됐는가를 확인할 수 있게 해 준다. 뿐만 아니라, 이 텍스트는 도식주의·무갈등론과 싸우는 과정에서 생산된 리얼리즘 텍스트로서 북한문학의 정전으로 꼽히고 있으므로 문학사적으로도 세밀한 텍스트 분석이 필요한 작품이기도 하다. 《개마고원》은 작가 황건이 자신의 현장경험을 총체적으로 결집해 발표한 첫 장편소설이다. 이 작품은 그가 해방되기 전에 고향에서 양 목축을 했던 것과, 해방 후에 면인민위원회 조직 사업에 뛰어들었던 경험을 녹여낸 현장의 기록이다. 작품에 등장하는 전쟁기의 상황도 종군작가로 활동한 경험을 서사화시킨 것이다. 따라서,《개마고원》의 사실주의적 성취는 역사의 현장에 작가가 참여하고 기록한 실제 체험의 산물이다. 이러한 사실주의적 요소로 인해 텍스트에 대한 풍부한 해석의 가능성을 넓혀주고 있다. 소설《개마고원》은 북한의 혁명전통에서 중요한 근거지인 ‘개마고원’이 배경이다. 개마고원은 공간적 상징이며, 역사적 상징으로서 의미를 지닌 장소이다. 총50장으로 구성된 이 소설의 시간적 배경은 1945년 6월부터 1951년 10월까지이다. 내용상으로 구분했을 때는 주인공 김경석이 일제에 의해 징병으로 끌려가다 탈출해 임민원회에서 활동하다 면당위원장이 된 시기까지가 1부이고(1장∼28장), 6·25전쟁이 발발한 후 전선이 삼수갑산 지역까지 밀렸던 시기 후방의 전투상황을 그려낸 것이 2부이다.(29장∼50장) 이 소설은 지방인민위원회 구성, 토지개혁, 반혁명세력과의 투쟁, 6·25전쟁기 갑산을 중심으로 한 후방의 전투 등 다양한 이야기들을 갈무리 하고 있다. 기본 서사는 해방부터 6·25전쟁까지라는 연대적인 시간의 흐름에 따르고 있지만, 작가의 주제의식은 ‘인민의 정부로서 북조선의 정통성’을 인민의 시선을 통해 구현하는 것이다. 이를 위해 『개마고원』은 시간적 흐름을 따르면서도 개성적 인물들을 계열화해 이들이 갈등하는 양상을 구체적으로 보여준다. 흥미로운 부분은《개마고원》의 서사의 이면들이다. 북한정권 성립과정에서 발생한 지방인민위원회를 둘러싼 갈등, 토지개혁을 둘러싼 갈등, 6·25전쟁 발발을 둘러싼 진술의 모순들, 여성의 남성화를 통한 권위주의적 체제의 확립 등이 그 대표적인 예이다.《개마고원》은 북한문학사가 일관되게 긍정하고 있다는 측면에서 기록적 가치가 있음이 분명하다. 하지만, 그 기록의 이면에 존재하는 욕망을 읽어냄으로써 오히려 북한문학 작품에 대한 풍부한 해석적 지평을 확보할 수 있다. 이러한 연구방법은 북한 문학 텍스트의 이면적 서사를 살핌으로써 은폐되어 있는 욕망을 읽어낸다는 측면에서 북한문학 연구의 새로운 방법론이 될 수 있을 것이다.

Hwang Geon’s Gaema Plateau(1956) is a work the Literary History of North Korea uniformly recognizes. A North Korean novel representing the 1950s, the work is marked by the portrayal of the class conflict in the period right after the independence from Japan, concerning land reform, and romantic realization of the future of North Korea. The author aimed at revealing the hidden desire that North Korea’s official records hold by reading the other side of Gaema Plateau, the novel that the official discourse of North Korea acknowledged in the 1950s, right after Korean War. This text lets us confirm in what kind of hidden conflict and in the extension of utopian desire the vitality of the early North Korean government was formed. Furthermore, this novel requires a meticulous text analysis in terms of the literary history because, as a realism text created in the process of the struggle against schematism or theory of non-conflict, it is considered the crux of North Korean literature. Gaema Plateauis the first novel by Hwang Geon who accumulated all of his experiences in the field, such as his experience in raising lambs in his hometown beforethe Independence and his participation in the organization projects of a town people’s committee. The condition at the wartime appeared in the novel is the narration of his experience as a war correspondent. Thus, the achievement of realism shown in Gaema Plateau is the result of the author’s actual experiences and records in the field of history. Such realistic elements help expand the possibility of various and diverse interpretations of the text. With Gaema Plateau, an important base of the revolution tradition of North Korea, as its main backdrop, Gaema Plateauconsists of a total of 50 chapters. Its chronological background is from June 1945 to October 1951. In terms of it story, the first part of the novel tells the story of the hero, Kim, Gyeong Seok, who was drafted by Japan but escaped. Later, he works for a town people’s committee and becomes the chair of the committee (Chapter 1 to 28), and the second part of the novel portrays the war condition of the rear region when the battle line is pushed back to Samsugapsan after the outbreak of Korean War (Chapter 29 to 50). This novel writes about various stories on the organization of a local people’s committee, land reform, struggles against anti-revolution factions, battles on the rear regions around Gapsan during Korean War. While its chronological line starts with the Independence and follows Korean War, the main subject, for the author, was to realize the ‘legitimacy of North Korea as the government for the people’ through the viewpoint of the people.Toward this end, the novel, following the chronological line, shows concretely the conditions of conflict among various and fully portrayed characters. Of particular interest is the other side of the narrative of Gaema Plateau. Conflicts surrounding the local people’s committee in the process of the establishment of the North Korean government and land reform, the contradictions of witnesses surrounding how Korean War started, and establishment of the authoritative system based on the virilism of women are such examples. It is clear that Gaema Plateauhas the value as an record of history in that it is uniformly acknowledged by literary history of North Korea. However, one can pave the way into a richer interpretative ground for North Korean literary work by reading the desire on the other side of the records. In that such a methodology can read the hidden desire by examining the other side of the record shown in North Korean literature texts, this study can help create a new methodology for the North Korean literary study.

Hwang Geon’s Gaema Plateau(1956) is a work the Literary History of North Korea uniformly recognizes. A North Korean novel representing the 1950s, the work is marked by the portrayal of the class conflict in the period right after the independence from Japan, concerning land reform, and romantic realization of the future of North Korea. The author aimed at revealing the hidden desire that North Korea’s official records hold by reading the other side of Gaema Plateau, the novel that the official discourse of North Korea acknowledged in the 1950s, right after Korean War. This text lets us confirm in what kind of hidden conflict and in the extension of utopian desire the vitality of the early North Korean government was formed. Furthermore, this novel requires a meticulous text analysis in terms of the literary history because, as a realism text created in the process of the struggle against schematism or theory of non-conflict, it is considered the crux of North Korean literature. Gaema Plateauis the first novel by Hwang Geon who accumulated all of his experiences in the field, such as his experience in raising lambs in his hometown beforethe Independence and his participation in the organization projects of a town people’s committee. The condition at the wartime appeared in the novel is the narration of his experience as a war correspondent. Thus, the achievement of realism shown in Gaema Plateau is the result of the author’s actual experiences and records in the field of history. Such realistic elements help expand the possibility of various and diverse interpretations of the text. With Gaema Plateau, an important base of the revolution tradition of North Korea, as its main backdrop, Gaema Plateauconsists of a total of 50 chapters. Its chronological background is from June 1945 to October 1951. In terms of it story, the first part of the novel tells the story of the hero, Kim, Gyeong Seok, who was drafted by Japan but escaped. Later, he works for a town people’s committee and becomes the chair of the committee (Chapter 1 to 28), and the second part of the novel portrays the war condition of the rear region when the battle line is pushed back to Samsugapsan after the outbreak of Korean War (Chapter 29 to 50). This novel writes about various stories on the organization of a local people’s committee, land reform, struggles against anti-revolution factions, battles on the rear regions around Gapsan during Korean War. While its chronological line starts with the Independence and follows Korean War, the main subject, for the author, was to realize the ‘legitimacy of North Korea as the government for the people’ through the viewpoint of the people.Toward this end, the novel, following the chronological line, shows concretely the conditions of conflict among various and fully portrayed characters. Of particular interest is the other side of the narrative of Gaema Plateau. Conflicts surrounding the local people’s committee in the process of the establishment of the North Korean government and land reform, the contradictions of witnesses surrounding how Korean War started, and establishment of the authoritative system based on the virilism of women are such examples. It is clear that Gaema Plateauhas the value as an record of history in that it is uniformly acknowledged by literary history of North Korea. However, one can pave the way into a richer interpretative ground for North Korean literary work by reading the desire on the other side of the records. In that such a methodology can read the hidden desire by examining the other side of the record shown in North Korean literature texts, this study can help create a new methodology for the North Korean literary study.

, , , , , ,

Hwang Geon, Gaema Plateau, Literary history of North Korea, Land reform, The other side of the record, 1950s, the Novel of North Korea