Yeats의 Mask 이론 고찰

Abstract

Yeats에의 올바른 접근을 위해서는 Mask이론에 대한 이해가 필수 불가결하다는 점은 모든 평자가 한결같이 인정하는 바이다. 그러나 Yeats 사후 50여년이 지난 지금에도 Mask이론은 그 복잡성과 난해성으로 인해 그 중요성은 인정받음에도 불구하고 충분한 조명을 받지 못한 형편이다. 본고는 이 복잡한 Mask이론에 대한 보다 나은 이해를 위해 Mask이론이 가장 정리되고 발전된 형태로 드러나는 Per Amica를 중심으로 Mask의 개념을 정리하며 Mask이론의 실체를 파악하고자한 한 자그마한 시도이다.

본고가 per Amica를 중심으로 추출한 Mask의 개념은 "우리의 내부에서 발견되는, 현재의 삶과는 반대되는 형태를 취하는 우리 삶의 이상적인 이미지"이다. 필자는 이를 토대로 Mask이론을 세 측면-문학적인, 윤리적인, 그리고 철학적인-에서 분석하여, Mask이론이 Yeats의 사고의 특성과 삶과 문학에 대한 그의 모든 핵심적인 입장이 응집된 결과임을 밝힐 수 있었다. Yeats는 Mask이론을 통해 예술이란 삶에 대한 작가의 Mask의 구현이며 시인 내부에서 일어나는 삶과 Mask의 갈등이 예술창조의 근본적인 에너지가 되고 작품 내에서의 이 갈등의 표출유무가 작품의 질을 결정한다고 주장했다. Mask를 통해 예술의 근원과 성격, 훌륭한 작품의 기준을 제시하며 Yeats는 아울러 Mask가 자아완성과 이상적인 공동체의 삶, 그리고 궁극적인 실체파악을 유도한다고 주장했다. 또한 Yeats는 이렇게 Mask의 효용성을 제시하는 과정에서 갈등에 근거하며 갈등의 효용가치를 인정하는 자신의 기본적인 사고패턴을 노출했으며 관념론자로서의 자신의 모습과 자신의 문학은 자연주의 문학과는 궤를 달리함을 분명히 했다. 뿐만 아니라 Mask의 추출이란 시인이 활발히 삶과 경험 속에 뛰어들 때에만 가능하다고 주장함으로써 삶에 대한 자신의 적극적인 태도를 밝힌 것이다.

It is generally conceded by the critics that a deeper understanding of Yeats' Mask theory is indispensable to a better understanding of his works. But the complexity and difficulty of the theory has continually prevented their close approach to it until now, some 50 years after the poet's death. This study forms another unsatisfactory trial to throw light on this complex doctrine. It has proposed to determine the exact meaning of the concept of the Mask to investigate the theory, referring mainly to Yeats' prose work Per Amica where the theory is given the fullest statement.

The investigation has defined the concept of the Mask as the Ideal image of life which is always opposite to the natural self or the natural world, lurking in the unconscious dark of the mind. With this definition, the writer of this study has analyzed the theory under three aspects-aesthetic, moral, and philosophical, and has confirmed that Yeats's Mask theory is the cohesion of all his essential attitudes toward life and art and the fundamental characteristics of his way of thinking. Through his Mask theory Yeats argues on the nature, the source, and the touchstone, of a work of art : art is the embodiment of the writer's Mask of life, and his inner struggle between Mask and life sets him to his creative work ; the quality of a work depends upon the expression of this tragic war. The theory involves much more than this aesthetic meaning : he demonstrates that the mask can lead us to the possibility of "unity of self" and "unity of culture", and even to the "last knowledge." And all this argument involved in the theory clearly manifests his fundamental way of thinking(his view of the world and consciousness as conflict and his deliberate exploitation of conflict), his idealism, and his literary creed as non-naturalist. His positive attitude toward life is also shown in his suggestion that the projection of mask be only possible to the active and turbulent men.

It is generally conceded by the critics that a deeper understanding of Yeats' Mask theory is indispensable to a better understanding of his works. But the complexity and difficulty of the theory has continually prevented their close approach to it until now, some 50 years after the poet's death. This study forms another unsatisfactory trial to throw light on this complex doctrine. It has proposed to determine the exact meaning of the concept of the Mask to investigate the theory, referring mainly to Yeats' prose work Per Amica where the theory is given the fullest statement.

The investigation has defined the concept of the Mask as the Ideal image of life which is always opposite to the natural self or the natural world, lurking in the unconscious dark of the mind. With this definition, the writer of this study has analyzed the theory under three aspects-aesthetic, moral, and philosophical, and has confirmed that Yeats's Mask theory is the cohesion of all his essential attitudes toward life and art and the fundamental characteristics of his way of thinking. Through his Mask theory Yeats argues on the nature, the source, and the touchstone, of a work of art : art is the embodiment of the writer's Mask of life, and his inner struggle between Mask and life sets him to his creative work ; the quality of a work depends upon the expression of this tragic war. The theory involves much more than this aesthetic meaning : he demonstrates that the mask can lead us to the possibility of "unity of self" and "unity of culture", and even to the "last knowledge." And all this argument involved in the theory clearly manifests his fundamental way of thinking(his view of the world and consciousness as conflict and his deliberate exploitation of conflict), his idealism, and his literary creed as non-naturalist. His positive attitude toward life is also shown in his suggestion that the projection of mask be only possible to the active and turbulent men.