이 논문은 박태원이 북한에서 발표한 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>를 그 서술 특성을 바탕으로 다시 해석하고 역사소설의 의미를 새롭게 고찰해보고자 했다. <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>의 서술 특성에서 가장 두드러지는 두 가지 특징은 첫째, 서술자에 의한 인물의 의식 개방과, 둘째, 소설의 문면에 저 자신을 노출하는 서술자의 인격성이었다. 이 논문은 본론에서 소설 전체 이야기를 개관한 후, 서술자에 의한 인물의 의식 개방의 양상 중 몇 가지 경우를 분석하여 이런 서술 담론이 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>의 작가 의도와 맺는 관계를 해석한 뒤, 저 자신을 문면에 직접 노출하는 서술자의 인격성이 소설 본문에 드러나는 양상을 정리하고 이 인격적 서술자가 결국 소설 언어를 조립하여 ‘평민의 역사를 무대화’하려는 작가 의도의 산물임을 밝히고자 했다. 그리고 논문의 결론에서 박태원의 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>를 그와 동시대에 활동했던 조르죄 루카치의 저작 <역사소설론>과 대질시킴으로써 “역사소설” 갈래의 본질적 의미를 다시 한 번 생각해보았다.
박태원의 역사소설 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>의 서술자는 인물의 의식을 개방하는 서술기법 외에도 여러 문헌을 직접 삽입하는 담론 구성 방식을 활용해서 임술민란 시기를 재현할 무대를 마련했다. 그런데 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>의 서술자는 그 자체로 인격성을 띤 인물처럼 나타나며, 이 논문은 서술자의 이런 인격성의 이유를 평민의 역사를 무대화하려는 작가의 의도에서 찾아보았다. 이 역사소설의 서술자는 소설이 창작된 1960년대의 시공간과 소설의 배경인 1860년대의 시공간 사이 백여 년의 간격을 오가며 소설을 읽는 사람이 과거의 궤적을 구체적으로 보고 듣고 느끼고 생각할 수 있도록 그를 언어로 조립한 무대로 초대했다. 박태원의 <갑오농민전쟁 기획> 중에서도 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>에서 두드러진 이런 무대 조립 방식은 서술자가 기층사회의 사람들을 먼저 보여주고자 했기 때문에 나타난다.
박태원의 <계명산천은 밝아오느냐>는 역사유물론적 역사파악에 근거한 역사소설의 한 전범을 형성했다. 그런데 공통 이념으로부터 도출된 과제를 미리 설정하고 이를 풀어나가는 것처럼 여겨지는 역사소설의 방향 설정을 소설에서의 사실주의 문법을 위반하고 낭만주의로 복귀했다고 볼 수도 있을 것이다. 그러나 이 논문에서는 이를 의지주의가 아니라 인간 이성의 역할과 주체성을 복권하고자 했던 고전적 낭만주의로 복귀하면서 사실주의 문법을 굳이 포기한 민중적 낭만주의로 해석해 보았다.
The purpose of this study is to reinterpret A New World Is Dawning (Kyemyŏng sanchŏn ŭn palga onŭnya) published by Park Tae-won in North Korea based on its literary techniques and to reexamine the meaning of a historical novel. The two most prominent features of the literary techniques of A New World Is Dawning are, first, the empathy of the character’s consciousness and, second, the personality of the narrator who exposes himself to the external texture of the novel. After reviewing the synopses of the novel, this study analyzed several cases of the empathy of the character’s consciousness to interpret the relationship between this narrative discourse and the author’s intention in A New World Is Dawning, and also to organize the aspects in which the personality of the narrator who directly exposes himself is revealed in the external texture of the novel, and to reveal that this personal narrator is ultimately the product of the author’s intention to STAGE THE PLEBEIAN HISTORY by assembling the novel’s language. Finally, this study reconsiders the radical meaning of HISTORICAL NOVEL by confronting Park Tae-won's A New World Is Dawning with György Lukács' The Historical Novel, a work written during the same period.
The narrator of Park Tae-won’s A New World Is Dawning employs several unique narrative techniques. One of the primary techniques is the opening of the character’s consciousness, which allows readers to deeply empathize with the characters. Additionally, the narrator uses a discourse composition that directly inserts various documents into the narrative. This technique sets the stage for reproducing the People’s Revolt of the Imsul Year(1862), providing historical context and authenticity. However, what makes the narrator of A New World Is Dawning particularly distinctive is that he appears as a person with a distinct personality. This study considers this personality to be the product of the author’s intention to stage the plebeian history. The narrator invites the reader to a stage assembled in language, allowing them to see, hear, feel, and think about the trajectory of the past in detail. This is achieved by moving back and forth between the 1960s, when the novel was written, and the 1860s, when the novel is set. This method of stage assembly is prominent in A New World Is Dawning and is part of Park Tae-won’s Gabo Peasant War Project. The narrator wanted to show the people of the lower class first. Some unspecified and nameless people come on stage, and a specific character in the story of the novel is one of these people. The protagonist of the novel is a person from the lower class. Although he becomes the protagonist, he is not a special individual. In A New World Is Dawning, there is an ordinary person among the lower class people first, and the specific character is one of the lower class.
The chronotope described through historical novels is not a generic past but A HISTORICAL PAST that has been formed, described, and judged. This is why the historical novel is different from just novels. The annotative intervention of the narrator of the historical novel originated from this situation. The narrator of historical novels must maintain a historical materialist view of history while avoiding anachronisms. He must not describe people and facts of the past as they are but must maintain a belief in the direction and ascending power of history. This is why the unique narrator of A New World Is Dawning, who maintains his own personality even in the text, appeared. This narrator reproduces the words and actions of characters, adds trivial remarks, sometimes addresses the reader or talks to himself, and sometimes provides commentary on papers or old documents. Park Tae-won’s A New World Is Dawning was a typical historical novel that presupposed materialist historiography. However, the direction of historical novels, which preemptively derive tasks from common ideas and solve them, can be seen as a violation of the grammar of realism in novels and a return to romanticism. This study interprets this direction as plebeian romanticism, not voluntarism. Plebeian romanticism should be seen as a return to classic romanticism that sought to restore the subjectivity of human reason while deliberately abandoning the grammar of realism.