‘저층문학’에서 ‘노동자문학’으로— <나는 판위수입니다>를 중심으로

Abstract

An autographical essay “I am Fan Yusu” by a female migrant worker has gone vial over Chinese social media, including both various communication groups on the Internet and traditional media channels, since April 2017 when it was published on the Chinese social network WeChat and is driving the whole nation into a so-called “Fan Yusu syndrome” which is characterized by empathy with the “subaltern” and passion for “literature.” This paper reads the essay in the context of subaltern literature in order to show that it actually breaks through the limitations of subaltern literature and opens up new possibilities for laborer literature. Firstly, “I am Fanyusu” depicts Fanyusu, a middle-aged women and domestic worker, not as an object of sympathy, but as a subject who chooses and takes the responsibility. Secondly, the essay shows she has been able to take the lead of her own life because she appreciated the integrity of life and labor, especially physical labor. Thirdly, in the essay, this appreciation has developed into a new self-consciousness as a laborer which is reaching out to people who similarly suffer. What this new laborer identity contains are independence to choose and be responsible, realization of the integrity of labor, and empathy with the underprivileged or disadvantaged.