웃음으로 눈물 닦기와 국문학 = 'Wiping Tears Through Laughter' and Korean Literature

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Experience tells us that people laugh when they are in a pleasure or joyous rood. However, the kind of laughter from pcasori(판소리) is certainly different in its character. In some cases of pansori laughter comes like an aftermath of a narration that emphasizes the sorrowful state of life. This type of laughter is worth a study since it is not motivated by ordinary causes for laughter.
Evoking laughter in situations usually not appropriate for laughter is not confined to the genre of pansory. Comparable effects may be perceived in other genres like the novel. The narrator of the novel takes a distance from what he describes and makes a Caricature of the person he is dealing with. Among the sijo works, some works could be examples of arousing laughter in a situation that it is not appropriate for laughter. I would like to call this 'Wiping Tears Through Laughter'.
'Wiping Tears Through Laughter' is not only to be perceived in literature. In fact, this is something frequently observed in daily Korean life. Nowadays traditional custom in the process of undergoing great changes, but moumer's houses are still relatively noisy and sprinkled with not infrequent of laughter. The Dasiraegi of Jindo area is an example of a conventionalized form of such spirit. In the Jinogwigut which in relation to the dead person is supposed to be performed in a sorrowful mood, laughter is evoked along with delightful jokes that are performed during the whole ceremony. Again this is also a form of Wiping Tears Through Laughter. People who have grown up in a traditional Korean society are familiar with the language that embodies this spirit.
In such examples, we see that the spirit of Wiping Tears Through Laughter is not merely a literary characteristic but a way of life that generates the conventionalized form of the traditional folk customs. In other words, Wiping Tears Through Laughter in Korean literature is the actual expression of this spirit that has become universally accepted in everyday Korean life and then absorbed in literary works.
'Wiping Tears Through Laughter' is pursued, since it can liberate so- from sorrow and dismal state of feeling. This is a kind of strategy coping with a situation that brings nothing but tears. In fact, it is an expression of judgement that sorrow is to be overcome not by tears but laughter. To that degree, it is a way of life.
This way of life is based on the observation of a stubborn fact that there sorrow exists and we as human beings cannot but face it. If all the incidents that evoke sorrow are possible to overcome, people tend to try to find ways of breaking through the tough situation. However, how big human being's effort and how great the skills may be, there are situations we human beings cannot defeat Death is a good example.
In a word, it is a way of life that considers regaining stability by emotional solution to be the best since no realistic solution is possible in such an irresistible situation Therefore, this way of handling can be regarded as a way of adjusting to a situation, and in this aspect, it is a cultural characteristic. Wiping Tears Through Laughter as seen in novel or song, is then a system as a way of adjusting oneself to the given circumstances.
From this viewpoint, Wiping Tears Through Laughter reflects the belief that there are certain conditions of life that we, human beings must face and cope with Hence, it would be reasonable to point out the cultural characteristic that has accepted the limits of human being's life and designed the way of coping up with them
Living in the very period where more and more problem such as environmental disruption which should be solved by human beings pile up, Wiping Tears Through Laughter can be seen as a significant way of life.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. 문제의 성격
• 2. 웃음의 두 유형과 '웃음으로 눈물 닦기'
• 3. '웃음으로 눈물 닦기'의 보편성
• 4. '웃음으로 눈물 닦기'의 문화적 성격
• 5. 웃음의 기능과 삶의 방식
• 6. 맺는말