반영극적인 기법을 통해 살펴본 『베니토 세레노』연구 = A Study of Benito Cereno and the Technique of Metadrama

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The reality of Benito Cereno is difficult to perceive. However, Melville offers us some hint for grasping it with the technique of metadrama. That is to say, we can recognize the true intention of the author by the mutual reflexive effect of `play-within-play`; the shaving scene and the deposition scene. The result is that the reader must participate actively; he must cooperate in the creative process for grasping the reality. Consequently we can know that in Benito Cereno, there appear two types of artists who confront a major social problem; slavery. One is the narrator, Delano, who cannot make up the gap between the facts of Babo`s slave rebellion and the truthful narration of that experience. He represents an attitude held by the typical 19th century American Intellectual. Of course he starts his truth-seeking mission with sincerity, but he remains fixed in his attitude. The dilemma confronting him is his unconscious distorted explanation about reality; the slave uprising and slavery. On the other hand, Babo takes the role of the ideal artist. To accomplish the truth-seeking mission of the artist, he sincerely plans and participates in the slave rebellion. Melville`s main purpose in this novel lies in analyzing social structural contradiction and in suggesting a possible way out with these two types of artists.