Abstract

Modernity in the Korean modern history of literature started from modernity of identity. To overcome the modernity of ‘transplant literature,’ the immanent development theory requires a methodological transition. From that viewpoint, accessing a new perspective of Gim Yu-jeong, who is classified as a modernist in relation to Guinhoe, will demonstrate the possibility of a variety of interpretations. The modern body of Foucault is a useful method that can explain modernity, because it is made by a political regulation in discipline and control. '들병이', who is a wife of a peasant farmer, is driven into prostitution. She is a characteristic element in Gim Yu-jeong’s novel, and her existence shows the situation of the farmers. They were kicked out of the country and forced into the city under the colonial economic policy during the Japanese colonial period. The body of ‘들병이’ is not everyone’s possession, but under everyone’s ownership; this shows the process of forming a quasi-subject. Her identity is different from that of the waitress in the cafe or traditional gisaeng; her character and power are regulated and formed at networking. This is similar to the boundary body of Agamben. The body of ‘들병이’ is regulated by politics, that is, it is connected to bio-power. Out of power, she is materialized, and then she can live as a ‘pure form.’ Her location makes meaning, and this allows her existence to manifest and expend modernity.