최명익 단편소설 ｢심문(心紋)｣에 나타난 고통의 의미 분석: 프로이트의 ｢과학적 심리학 초고｣에 기반하여

초록

The purpose of this study is to explore Freud’s definition of pain in the early days of psychoanalysis, and to examine what pain means to the human subject by linking it to contemporary Korean literature from the 1930s based on the definition. In “Project for a Scientific Psychology”, Freud defines pain as a quantitative concept. According to Freud, when the human subject does not experience sufficient satisfaction from the primary internal stimuli, he or she experiences ‘failure of contrivances,’ that is, pain. That experience becomes a ‘psycho-signature’ and facilitates next responses. This formation and effects of pain presented by Freud, can be seen by the characters in Myung-ik Choi’s “Sim-mun”. He is a writer recognized for providing implications for assessing the topography of Korean literature in the late 1930s. In this study, I analyze the three characters who appear in “Sim-mun” by applying the process of pain defined by Freud. These three characters―Kim, Myung-il, Yeo-ok, Hyun, Il-young― live with their own psycho-signatures engraved with their pain. For them, pain is the affect of a trace pierced by trauma. The work of this study first examines the implication of pain inserted into the prospect of meaning of human life by applying pain as a quantitative concept presented by Freud. Furthermore, it leads to confirmation that the principles of human mental functioning mentioned in psychoanalysis can be seen in Korean literature as well.

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