# 이러한 메시지



## moondeer

Hi, I'm translating an article about 책거리 from the Joseon dyansty. In the following paragraph there are 3 things I don't yet understand: 

1. who is the 주인공 of the painting? The watermelon (which may be placed on one of the center panels), which I doubt, or the woman whose study this painting depicts (although she is unseen)?

2. when the author says, 이러한 메시지 in the last sentence, what message is he referring to? 

3. Does 부정하는 퍼포먼스 mean "unfaithful performance," and if so, what is it referring to? To the fact that the watermelon has been stabbed with a knife?

Thanks for any clarification. I don't have access to a picture of the painting (the specific painting isn't mentioned, but I did find one on the web of a 책거리 with a watermelon that had a knife sticking out of it--it didn't look ghoulish or macabre, though). 

Finally, does it seem to you that some of the descriptive terms in the paragraph are a bit exaggerated?

조선시대 서재는 남성의 전유공간이다. 그런데 매우 드물게 여성의 서재를 그린 그림이 있다. 이 책거리에는 여성의 화장품이나 귀중품을 갈무리하는 가께수리와 책을 중심으로 그 위에 여성 취향의 도자기와 기물들이 놓여 있고, 아래에는 여성의 가죽 신발과 향수병도 보인다. 그런데 이 책거리는 단순히 은밀한 여성의 서재만을 공개하는 데 그친 것이 아니라, 그 주인공의 단호하지만 조용한 외침이 들리는 듯하다. 특히 장도로 수박을 관통한 모습에서는 섬뜩한 느낌까지 든다. 수박은 씨가 많아서 다남자를 상징한다. 대개 민화에서 수박은 윗부분을 잘라서 씨를 보이게 나타내는 것은 그러한 상징성을 강조하기 위해서다. 그렇다면 왜 이 그림의 주인공은 아름답기 그지없는 그림에 엽기적인 행위를 넣은 것일까? 아마 이 그림의 주인공은 다남자의 상징인 수박을 부정하는 퍼포먼스를 통해 이러한 메시지를 우리에게 전하고 싶었던 것 같다.


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## mink-shin

moondeer said:


> 1. who is the 주인공 of the painting? The watermelon (which may be placed on one of the center panels), which I doubt, or the woman whose study this painting depicts (although she is unseen)?


Unless I'm mistaken, there's no 주인공 in the painting which you may think of as _the main character_. The 주인공 in the last sentence refers to the artist who painted the picture. In this context, 주인공 means someone who is undiscovered, or who we're talking about but we don't know exactly about *them, which is not common usage to me, compared to the other meanings of 주인공.



moondeer said:


> 2. when the author says, 이러한 메시지 in the last sentence, what message is he referring to?


I think 이러한 메시지 refers to 다남자 부정. The last sentence means "Maybe the painter of this picture wanted to convey this message via the performance not acknowledging the watermelon that symbolize _the phenomenon men outnumbered women_." To me, the last sentence is not a well-written sentence. I would re-phrase, "아마 이 그림의 주인공은 *다남자의 상징인 수박을 부정*하는 퍼포먼스를 통해 *다남자를 부정*하는 메시지를 우리에게 전하고 싶었던 것 같다." Maybe the writer didn't like the repetition of '다남자를 부정'.



moondeer said:


> 3. Does 부정하는 퍼포먼스 mean "unfaithful performance," and if so, what is it referring to? To the fact that the watermelon has been stabbed with a knife?


'부정하는' doesn't mean 'unfaithful'. It means 'not approving (of the phenomenon), or rather, 'not acknowledging (the phenomenon)'. But yes, it refers to the watermelon. It may seem that I am a nitpicker, which is true though, but I don't think 부정하는 퍼포먼스 refers to the fact the watermelon has been stabbed. I think 부정하는 퍼포먼스 refers to the artist's painting the watermelon stabbed with a knife.



moondeer said:


> Finally, does it seem to you that some of the descriptive terms in the paragraph are a bit exaggerated?


Hmm...... Honestly, I can answer to this question both 'yes' and 'no'. Before reading your questions, I had read the quote at first. I thought it would be better to understand your questions if I read the quote before reading your questions. Anyway, having read the quote and before reading your questions, I didn't think or even feel the terms were exaggerated at all. But having read your final question and read the quote again, I do now. But I think it's because the writer has more empathic ability than I.

*them : I use this word as a gender-neutral singular pronoun.


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## moondeer

Thank you so much, Mink-shin.
I certainly don't think the writer has any more empathic ability than you. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the language. In English "아름답기 그지없다" can be translated as "beautiful beyond description," which in English is pretty much as beautiful as you can get. I don't think a painting discussed in a scholarly article should ever be described as such. The description is too hyperbolic. I will change it to simply "beautiful." That phrase is the main thing I was referring to in my comment. Does that phrase not have such a superlative feeling to a Korean speaker?


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## mink-shin

The reason I told you the writer has more empathic ability than I was just that I wanted to respect the writer's description, whether it seemed hyperbolic or exaggerated to me. But having read your recent post(#3), I see what you meant. It wasn't '아름답기 그지없다' that I felt was exaggerated though.  Honestly, I agree to you that the description is too hyperbolic literally.


moondeer said:


> I will change it to simply "beautiful."


And I agree to this.
'아름답기 그지없다' literally means its beauty is limitless. -그지 used to mean 끝, which means _end_ or _limit_ in English, in medieval Korean.- So I would say that, generally, that phrase has such a superlative feeling in Korea.

But, in this context, I find '그지없다' doesn't mean 'limitless', which is its literal meaning. What the writer intended to mean is "Why *on earth *did the artist have to draw the grotesque performance in this _*beautiful*_ painting?" In this context, '그지없다' has a mission to make us feel how big difference there is between '엽기적인 행위' and '아름다운 그림'.


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## Yong Jo

1. 주인공 means the woman whose study this painting depicts.
2. 이러한 메시지 means 다남자의 상징인 수박 부정.
3. 부정하는 퍼포먼스 means disagreeing performance.


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## moondeer

Cool, thank you!


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## Rance

1. Generally 그림의 주인공 means the main figure in the painting.
"그렇다면 왜 이 그림의 주인공은 아름답기 그지 없는 그림에 엽기적인 행위를 넣은 것일까?"
This sentence, however, tells us that the author is treating the woman as if she were the painter.
So the author is implying that whatever the message the woman is trying to convey is pretty much the painter's voice.
Hence the answer could be either the painter or the woman in the painting.

2. Mid to late 조선시대 was pretty bad era for women.
They were oppressed socially and were forced to obey the men.
Stabbing the watermelon(=man) may be depicting the rebellious inner voice of an oppressed woman.

3. Both mink-shin and Yong Jo already explained well.


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