대니얼 디포의 『흑사병에 대한 일기』와 메리 셸리의 『최후의 인간』 속 은유로서의 전염병 비교 연구

초록

This essay endeavors to conduct a comparative literary study on the representation of contagious disease as metaphor in Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year and Mary Shelley's The Last Man. Defoe's novel, published in 1772, exemplifies the age of reason or the era of Enlightenment, offering a rational and empirical account of the bubonic plague outbreak in London in 1665. In contrast, Shelley's novel portrays the plague through an apocalyptic lens, drawing on Romanticism as a reaction against the Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality. Defoe's narrative is grounded in extensive research and historical records, employing a journalistic approach that relies on firsthand accounts and empirical data to provide a detailed and realistic description of the plague. The narrator in Defoe's novel uses contagious disease as a metaphor to expose social issues in English society, such as the negative effects of rapid urbanization, the incompetence of the English government, moral hazards, and more. On the other hand, Shelley's novel also employs contagious disease as a metaphor, but in the form of speculative fiction. It presents a visionary world where political systems collapse, and apocalyptic ruins ironically restore ecological harmony in nature. The essay concludes with a comparative analysis of both novels and their relevance to contemporary pandemics.

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