『현(絃)의 노래』에 나타난 문화예술 의식과 우주적 생명관 = Cultural and Artistic Consciousness and Cosmic Life Views in Songs of Strings

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In the novel Songs of Strings, the main character is Ureuk, which means that his instrument Gayageum is an important mechanism in the story. The Ureuk character will help to explore the culture and art appreciated by the Gaya people. The Gayageum is a very important element in discussions about the culture and art of Gaya. When Ureuk sought asylum in Silla, the remarkable nature of Gaya’s music culture was incorporated into Silla and has been passed down until modern times, which makes it significant to explore the culture of Gaya.
Since the Gayageum is a subject matter in Songs of Strings, the novel puts a considerable focus on sound. In the novel, the author depicts the Gayageum, a string instrument capable of notes of broad melodies, and the ideas of the Gaya people with creative music through the delicate listening sense of Ureuk as a court musician.
In the novel, the names of constellations are often used and described delicately. The Gaya people made an “inquiry” into stars as if they had an observation balloon, which indicates that they had good knowledge about astronomy and made sensitive reactions to it. It may be a natural phenomenon, given the world and cosmic views of the people those days when they had no various media of communication like today and accepted natural phenomena in an extrasensory manner. Their specific and friendly perceptions and approaches toward the celestial bodies have, however, become a foundation for a scientific demonstration theory called “astronomy” today, thus holding significance.
The novel frequently deals with the “death” of a king. Even its introduction starts by depicting a scene of funeral for a king with realistic descriptions of all sorts of acts in the burial of the living with the dead, which is a unique funeral act of burying living people or animals for the deceased. It cannot be dismissed merely as an eccentric custom partly because life and death is connected as one essentially and partly because this “system” of life and death is an element of origin in the culture of mankind.
The novel depicts many elements with which to estimate the spiritual culture of Gaya people including Ye-ak, constellations and astronomy, and the burial system of the living with the dead as a manifestation of afterlife. Even though it is a literary inquiry, it offers reference data to investigate the social aspects and values of those days and the cultural and artistic consciousness and cosmic world views of people those days.
The main narrative of the novel is set against the fall of Gaya. It reproduces insights into sound and human life through the character of Ureuk as a Gayageum player and even makes an inquiry into the essence of life creation beyond the musical dimension. As a matter of fact, the music of Gaya was recreated as that of Silla and made contributions to the development of Korean music since. King Jinheung gave special treatment to Ureuk as a refugee that discarded his homeland after its collapse and guaranteed him his musical activities because he recognized and accepted the superior nature of Gaya’s music. His actions hold profound significance in the cultural history of Gaya.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

『현(絃)의 노래』는 고대국가 가야(伽倻)의 멸망기를 시대적 배경으로 하는 소설로, 가야금(伽倻琴)의 명인 우륵(于勒)이 신라로 망명하여 가야의 문화를 전수시키기까지의 과정이 전개되고 있다. 가야금은 가야의 문화예술을 논할 때 매우 대표적인 기제이다. 우륵이 신라로 망명하면서 가야의 악(樂)문화의 우수성이 신라에 접목되어 현대까지 계승되고 있음에서, 가야문화의 고찰은 의미를 지닌다.
소설 속에는 예악을 비롯하여 별자리와 천문, 계세(繼世) 사상의 발현이라고 볼 수 있는 순장(殉葬)제도 등 가야인의 정신문화를 유추해 볼 수 있는 요소들로 채워져 있다. 이는 비록 문학적인 탐색일지라도, 그 시대의 사회상과 가치관, 당대인들의 문화예술 의식과 우주적 세계관을 연구하는 데 있어서 참고가 되고 있다.
소설은 가야의 멸망사를 다루고 있지만 악사 우륵의 삶을 조명하면서 음악적인 차원을 넘어서 생명 생성의 본질을 탐색하고 있다. 우륵이 패망한 조국을 버리고 망명자의 신분이 되었음에도, 신라의 진흥왕이 나름 그를 우대하면서 음악활동을 보장해주었던 것은 가야악의 우수성을 인정하고 수용한 것으로서, 가야 문화사적인 측면에서 중요한 연구 요소이다.

참고문헌 (Reference)

• 1 김 훈, "현(絃)의 노래" 생각의 나무 2004
• 2 박창범, "한국전통의 과학, 천문학" 이화여자대학교출판부 2007
• 3 부산대학교 한국민족문화연구소, "한국 고대사 속의 가야" 혜안 2001
• 4 버니 크라우스(Bernie Krause), "자연의 노래를 들어라" 에이도스(eidos) 2013
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