존 던의 『노래와 소네트』에 그려진 현존과 부재, 그리고 재현의 문제 (The Presence, the Absence, and the Problem of Representation in Donne’s Songs and Sonnets)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국고전중세르네상스영문학회
· 수록지 정보 : 고전중세르네상스영문학 / 20권 / 1호 / 25 ~ 51페이지
· 저자명 : 최재헌

초록

The concept of representation has occupied a new and important place in the study of culture and criticism. Representation refers to the production of meaning through language and it supposes the absence of the represented object. Postmodern criticism challenges the realistic view of representation which assumes that there is a simple relation between language and the real world. Instead, it overtly addresses the problem of the presence, the absence, and the representation as a pivotal concern in criticism. New explorations of power, gender, ideology in the Renaissance have not only provided radically new understandings of Renaissance texts but have also forced us to reexamine the critical, historical, and cultural presuppositions on which our readings are based.
The aim of this paper is to explore the presence, the absence, and the problem of representation in Donne’s Songs and Sonnets. For this purpose, I will survey “A Lecture upon the Shadow,” “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day,” “Air and Angels,” and “A Valediction: of my Name in the Window.” “A Lecture upon the Shadow” and “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day” are concerned with shadows and representation. In “A Lecture,” the shadows are representations or signs of the lovers. The shadow is absent, and the present moment of noon is so evanescent, coming and going instantaneously. In the case of “A Nocturnal,” the poet is a shadow or representation of the state of dying itself. Love has wrought a new kind of alchemy, in which the poet has been made the quintessence of nothingness. Love, as alchemist, does not extract the quintessence from things but rather from nothingness, such as privation, emptiness, absence, darkness, and death. “A Nocturnal” is the variations on the theme of nothingness, anatomizing the speaker’s bitter grief and despair at the death of his beloved. In “A Valediction: of my Name in the Window,” the speaker’s name engraved on the window’s glass keeps him there as a presence during his absence, and functions as a talisman to prevent another suitor or lover from supplanting him.

영어초록

The concept of representation has occupied a new and important place in the study of culture and criticism. Representation refers to the production of meaning through language and it supposes the absence of the represented object. Postmodern criticism challenges the realistic view of representation which assumes that there is a simple relation between language and the real world. Instead, it overtly addresses the problem of the presence, the absence, and the representation as a pivotal concern in criticism. New explorations of power, gender, ideology in the Renaissance have not only provided radically new understandings of Renaissance texts but have also forced us to reexamine the critical, historical, and cultural presuppositions on which our readings are based.
The aim of this paper is to explore the presence, the absence, and the problem of representation in Donne’s Songs and Sonnets. For this purpose, I will survey “A Lecture upon the Shadow,” “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day,” “Air and Angels,” and “A Valediction: of my Name in the Window.” “A Lecture upon the Shadow” and “A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy’s Day” are concerned with shadows and representation. In “A Lecture,” the shadows are representations or signs of the lovers. The shadow is absent, and the present moment of noon is so evanescent, coming and going instantaneously. In the case of “A Nocturnal,” the poet is a shadow or representation of the state of dying itself. Love has wrought a new kind of alchemy, in which the poet has been made the quintessence of nothingness. Love, as alchemist, does not extract the quintessence from things but rather from nothingness, such as privation, emptiness, absence, darkness, and death. “A Nocturnal” is the variations on the theme of nothingness, anatomizing the speaker’s bitter grief and despair at the death of his beloved. In “A Valediction: of my Name in the Window,” the speaker’s name engraved on the window’s glass keeps him there as a presence during his absence, and functions as a talisman to prevent another suitor or lover from supplanting him.

참고자료

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