Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine meaning as novel of metamorphic detective novel. For this purpose, I have analyzed the point which classical detective novel and The last witness are different. The last witness by Kim Song Jong is evaluated with representative metamorphic detective novel. And to investigate the point that metamorphic detective novel and modern novel are overlapped, I have compared The last witness with A wall of rumor by Lee Chung Jun, which was known with representative inquiry novel. The last witness has not only characteristics of classical detective novel that searches the cause of crime focusing on the contemporary social reality, and but also takes elements of metamorphic detective novel which grafts a critical eye on the contradictory contemporary history of our society together, while the latter has an unique structure, pursuing the cause of crime. Consequently, on the one hand it has the tension which the detective novel keeps, on the other has an insight into the complicated aspect of human being life. In A wall of rumor as inquiry novel, it is divided into two narratives of a detective and a criminal. And it shares characteristics of detective novel in which the course of events is exposed only by a character as inquirer. In opposition to detective novel, inquiry novel is free from melodramatic structure in which good and evil is set up against each other. Also inquiry novel obstructs reader's sentimental fantasy about realization of justice, induces reader to calm insight into the realities. The meaning of metamorphic detective novel is to de-construct the formula of classical detective novel, to extend the range of detective novel. As a way of questing for the true nature of life, the narrative method of modern novel is derived from that of the detective novel such as 'quest and chase'. Therefore, considering detective novel's power of influence over modern novel, metamorphic detective novel has literary meaning in the point it contributes to broaden range of the novel.