테크놀로지 좀비와 유목적 유토피아의 전망 ― 김중혁의 『좀비들』에 대하여 ― = Technological zombies and the prospect of nomadic utopia ― About Kim Jung-hyuk’s 『Zombies』 ―

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper seeks to give meaning to Kim Jung-hyuk’s novel 『Zombies』 (2010) as a value-orientation of human nomadic utopia in the face of disaster by contrasting it with the everyday utopia created by the governmentality of power. The zombies depicted in 『Zombies』 show the general characteristics of ‘man-eating zombies’ and ‘infected zombies’, while also shows characteristics of ‘technology zombies’ whose instincts and muscles can be controlled with drugs and electromagnetic waves, and the objects of Sinpa(melodrama) from family love and guilt. Because it is based on the controllability and empathy of technological zombies and Sinpa(melodramatic) zombies, the world in the novel appears as a controlled utopia rather than the gloom of the apocalypse. The military unit and Gorio village, which are controlled for security reasons, appear as spaces where the biopolitics of sovereign power operate in a permanent state of exception. Kim Jung-hyuk’s critical awareness of control and totalitarian society that infringe on individuality and freedom shows in 『Zombies』 that the technology of power that ‘makes you live’ and the technology of power that ‘makes you die’ are the same, and shows the connection between utopian technology and dystopian technology. It suggests and raises the issue of the permanent state of exception and biopolitics. Furthermore, in 『Zombies』, disasters such as the appearance of zombies present the possibility of escape from the permanent state of exception created by sovereign power of biopolitics. In the ending, 『Zombies』 depicts a utopian vision of movement that is not captured by governmentality, beyond safety and disciplinary order. It exists in the moment and journey in which all living and dead beings move forward, entrusting themselves to the same beat, regardless of their differences. Kim Jung-hyuk’s novels, including 『Zombies』, continuously seek the prospect of a nomadic utopia as a realm of difference and a path to potentiality.