본고는 염상섭의 주요소설에 나타난 세대갈등 양상을 연구하여 그 의미를 천착하였다. 통상 다수의 염상섭 소설의 세대갈등은 작품의 주요 모티브가 되고 그 변모 양상이 염상섭의 소설사적 변화과정을 해석하는 근거가 될 수 있기 때문이다. 1920년대 『제야』, 『이심』, 『광분』, 『사랑과 죄』를 그 대상으로 하고, 1930년대에는 『삼대』,『무화과』,『불연속선』, 그리고 후기소설로는 『효풍』, 『미망인』, 『화관』 그리고 『대를 물려서』를 연구의 대상으로 하였다. 전반적인 세대갈등 양상은 초기에는 강압적 관계이고 중기에는 비판적 공존의 의미로 변화되었다. 그리고 후기에 와서 세대갈등 양상은 구세대의 주장이 신세대에 의해 극복되는 경향을 보였다. 초기의 갈등은 은폐 및 생략의 양상을 보였다면 1930년대에는 보다 복잡다단한 양상을 보였다. 구세대의 오류와 혼란으로 신세대와의 갈등이 심화되지만 대개 비극적 결말을 노정했다. 후기에는 세대간 갈등이 역전되었는데, 그것은 기성세대들의 철학이나 비전이 제시되지 않았고 신세대들의 현실적인 세계관과 그들의 입장에 작품의 초점이 맞추어졌기 때문이다.
Yum, Sang-Sub wrote an incredible 27 novels throughout his life. In the novel Yum Sang-Sub, family problems are often seen as major episodes of the text. Especially in representative texts of Yum Sang-Sub, generational conflicts appear frequently. Therefore, it can be an important basis for the evaluation of such novels by analyzing the works with prominent generational conflicts in his novels. In this paper, I investigated the characteristics and meaning of generational conflicts within the novel. The aspect of generational conflicts that divides the writer"s texts into the former, middle, and latter periods is related to the age and the position of the writer and shows characteristics of the period. Generational conflicts in the 1920s are divided into the following three characteristics. First. Generation conflict is a major factor of this novel, and it is a starting point that triggers a large-scale event. The suicide or runaway of Jae-In and Park Chun-kyong in “Jeya” and “Isim” originate from the patriarchal coercion that expels them from their families. Second, generation conflicts are almost always concealed or omitted from the process of sacrifice and eviction of a child’s generations. The process of ousting a generation of children is omitted from “Jaya” and “Isim”, and in the case of the death of Kyung-ok, it has been omitted in “Gwangbun”. Third, after a conflict, the child’s generation seeks a new life as an outlet to accomodate their desires. Park Chun-kyung of “Isim” goes to the bar after marrying Lee Chang-ho and Lee He-chun goes down the path of rebellion as an active independence activist. Generational conflicts in the 1930s, unlike the 1920s, are largely shaken by the identity of the generation. The old generation maintains their values and imposes an anachronistic order of the era onto the next generation of children, so that the generational conflict is sharpened. Generational conflicts in “samdae”, “muwhagua”, and “bulyunsoksun” are more specific than those of 1920s novels. But a conflict is characterized by a tragic ending. On the other hand, generational conflicts related to a marriage story appear in later novels. However, the older generation did not have its own philosophy or values. For that reason, a character who admonishes a new generation, was forced to have an old attitude. In the 1950s and 60s, Yum Sang-Sub is actually 50-60 years old, so it can be seen that the old generation has expressed and understood the contents of contemporary writing and works. In the end, the generational conflicts in the later novels of Yum Sang-sub were reversed forms of generational conflicts. It is because the philosophy or vision of the older generation has not been presented, and it has been focused on the real-world view and the position of the new generation.