Aesthetics of Ugliness and Configuration of New Literature ���Focusing on the Matter of Sense and Imagination

The signs of new literature appeared in earnest in the history of Korean literature in 1990���s. They are inherent in the literature in 1990���s, making a discussion about ���ugliness��� possible, which is beyond or different with existing beauty. As the ���indifferent pleasure��� is made by sense in the history of beauty, the ���disgusting displeasure��� is also made by sense in the history of ugliness. The Korean literature in 1990���s or after 1990���s has established its differentiated identity from former ages through latter one. The representative writers showing the latter tendency are Jang Jeong-Il, Pyeon Hae-Young, Kim Eon-Hee, Baek Min-Seok, and Cheon Woon-Young at that time. It may be a coincidence, but it is interesting that Jang Jeong-Il shows the world of ugliness with sight, Pyeon Hae-Young with smell, Baek Min-Seok with hearing, and Cheon Woon-Young with taste. As the history of ugliness says, the sense they show causes disgusting displeasure. However at the same time, they have mysterious charm attracting us strongly, because they arouse allegoristic and paradoxical meaning about reality here and now inside the attraction. In this respect, the appearance of various senses and the beauty of ugliness shown in those writer���s works are not a coincidence, but the historical product made naturally in the current of times since 1990���s