『올리버 트위스트』, 맹자의 성선설로 다시 읽어보기 (Re-reading Oliver Twist along with Mencius’ “Good Human Nature Principle”)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국동서비교문학학회
· 수록지 정보 : 동서비교문학저널 / 26호 / 27 ~ 46페이지
· 저자명 : 김철수

초록

This study aims to re-read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in the light of Mencius’ “Good Human Nature Principle,” one of the human nature theories in pre-Chin dynasty China, following the process of a life journey of a young child, in which he tries his best to preserve his own good nature even in extremely adverse circumstances, and to identify the ideal of the writer, who believes that the social renovation can be pursued by preserving, enhancing, and expanding the good human nature endowed by God through diverse individual physical and spiritual endeavor.
Oliver Twist illuminates the bright and dark sides of the industrial success of ‘the Great Britain’ by describing the distorted Zeitgeist of Victorian era in a detailed realistic style, and the physical and spiritual life of a man being demolished in the course of distortion. In this work Dickens observes and points out the discrepancies of British industrial capitalism and describes in a storytelling style the life journey of the young hero, who manages his life without losing his good personality in adverse surroundings.
Dickens himself seems to believe that the social problems of his country in those days are mainly attributed to the inactivity and indifference of the middle class. Thus he presents the problems of the lowest class to induce the middle class to realize the impact and aftermath that they will go through caused by them in the long run, and for the purpose he equips his story with the device of horror and shock using his specific storytelling skills.
The early experience of Oliver Twist, dotted with horror, violence and subsequent sorrows, and his attitude to preserve the God-given good human nature shed the same light that Mencius, an ancient Chinese philosopher, has emphasizes in his teaching focusing on preserving and cultivating the sprouts of good human nature through positive and active reactions to internal and external stimuli. And the similarities in the theme of a western literary work and an eastern philosophy enables a new approach to comparative interactions between the two different fields.

영어초록

This study aims to re-read Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in the light of Mencius’ “Good Human Nature Principle,” one of the human nature theories in pre-Chin dynasty China, following the process of a life journey of a young child, in which he tries his best to preserve his own good nature even in extremely adverse circumstances, and to identify the ideal of the writer, who believes that the social renovation can be pursued by preserving, enhancing, and expanding the good human nature endowed by God through diverse individual physical and spiritual endeavor.
Oliver Twist illuminates the bright and dark sides of the industrial success of ‘the Great Britain’ by describing the distorted Zeitgeist of Victorian era in a detailed realistic style, and the physical and spiritual life of a man being demolished in the course of distortion. In this work Dickens observes and points out the discrepancies of British industrial capitalism and describes in a storytelling style the life journey of the young hero, who manages his life without losing his good personality in adverse surroundings.
Dickens himself seems to believe that the social problems of his country in those days are mainly attributed to the inactivity and indifference of the middle class. Thus he presents the problems of the lowest class to induce the middle class to realize the impact and aftermath that they will go through caused by them in the long run, and for the purpose he equips his story with the device of horror and shock using his specific storytelling skills.
The early experience of Oliver Twist, dotted with horror, violence and subsequent sorrows, and his attitude to preserve the God-given good human nature shed the same light that Mencius, an ancient Chinese philosopher, has emphasizes in his teaching focusing on preserving and cultivating the sprouts of good human nature through positive and active reactions to internal and external stimuli. And the similarities in the theme of a western literary work and an eastern philosophy enables a new approach to comparative interactions between the two different fields.

참고자료

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