쉠과 숀: 『피네건의 경야』 3권 1장 읽기

Abstract

This article begins by suggesting a thematic continuity among A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake—a theme of Stephen Dedalus’s difficulty in reconciling the “sordid tide of life” with his search for spiritual beauty. Although literary techniques vary among the three novels, the theme of Stephen’s conflict between unearthliness and earthliness is consistently presented in Joyce’s works. Stephen’s mind is troubled by the irreconcilable opposition between the ideal and the actual and this opposition predicts the Shem-Shaun theme in Finnegans Wake. Focusing on Book III, Chapter 1 of Finnegans Wake this article explores the Shem-Shaun theme. The particular aspects of human nature split between sordidness and beauty are personified by Shem and Shaun. The battle of Shem and Shaun is concerned with a conflict central to the world of Stephen Dedalus and of Joyce himself. While vulgar reality does not seem to please Stephen, Joyce himself did not deny the truth of life but rather accepted life’s inescapable sordidness. In Ulysses Stephen struggles vainly in his dilemma and he seems to realize that he will never be able to escape unpleasant reality of life. In Book III of Finnegans Wake Shaun is depicted more in detail than Shem and his action and voice dominate it. Shaun embodies the earthly aspects of life—that is, the physical and material side of life. In the fable of “The Ondt and the Gracehoper” Shaun-the Ondt blames Shem-the Gracehoper for his immorality and “lowquacity.” In some way Shaun’s harsh castigation against Shem might reflect a sense of guilt of Shem-Joyce. In this sense Shaun is a character who embodies the deeply-sited guilty conscience of Stephen-Shem-Joyce.