에드워드 존스의 역사소설『알려진 세계』에서 꺼낸 세 쟁점 - 권위, 예외, 정의Authority, State of Exception, and Justice in Edward Jones’s Historical Novel The Known World
- Other Titles
- Authority, State of Exception, and Justice in Edward Jones’s Historical Novel The Known World
- Authors
- 김준년
- Issue Date
- 2014
- Publisher
- 한국현대영미소설학회
- Keywords
- historical novel; African-American literature; fatherhood; authority; sovereignty; the state of exception; slavery; justice; 역사소설; 미국 흑인문학; 부성; 권위; 주권; 예외상태; 노예제도; 정의
- Citation
- 현대영미소설, v.21, no.1, pp.133 - 163
- Journal Title
- 현대영미소설
- Volume
- 21
- Number
- 1
- Start Page
- 133
- End Page
- 163
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/hongik/handle/2020.sw.hongik/18628
- ISSN
- 1229-7232
- Abstract
- This paper is designed to interrogate whether it is feasible to deal with such grand political issues as authority, sovereignty/the state of exception, and justice in the critical context of the African-American literature. There are reasons of looking at those power-related issues awry in our age shorn of grand narratives. If anything, African-American literary discourses have been responsible for contemplating the political and ethical implications about the historic changes of America. Since Martin Delany’s Blake; or the Huts of America, the African-American historical novel, such as Ishmael Reed’s Flight to Canada, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, or Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage, was concerned with the theme of ever-changing identity politics in the Americas. In this paper, I am particularly interested in the ways in which Edward Jones’s historical novel, The Known World, comes up with the topics of power and ethics. First, focusing on the triangular relationship between a unique black slave owner Henry Townsend, his biological father Augustus Townsend, and his white surrogate father William Robbins, I discuss how the ruse of authority influences fatherhood. Then, resorting to Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical view of sovereignty, I delve into the way that the slave master as a sovereign manipulated slavery as a peculiar state of exception in the antebellum plantation regime. Finally, taking a close look at the confrontation between the white sheriff John Skiffington and the free black woman Mildred Townsend, I investigate why the rule by law has been in conflict with the right of resistance in the history and how Skiffington’s excessive law enforcement results in Mildred’s sublime civil disobedience.
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