The purpose of this study is to investigate the meaning of the sea in Heuksan written by Kim Hoon. In Heuksan, Kim Hoon took notice of the existence of Jung Yak-jun which barely remains from hopelessness and loneliness with all things rooted out. In this novel, we can meet the sea while following such a life of Jung Yak-jun. To Kim Hoon, the sea is not a romantic object of admiration or ideal, but something reduced into material. When the protagonist consists in his outer world, not in his inner one, the sea reduced phenomenologically lies as a solemn reality. This reality is impossible to transcend. The phenomenogical world view and aim of the writer go with noticeable narrative flow penetrating the text.In Heuksan, the system of representation of the ‘sea’ accompanies the signifier ‘time.’ With the ‘sea,’ ‘time’ is reduced to the time not stained with its trace. The sea is not only an outside of the inner side in which an individual maintains his identity continually, but also an outside of history in which a social group preserves its collective memory. This sea is fearful as well as boundless. The main motive of Jung Yak-jun’s behavior in Heuksan-do can be explained by such boundlessness and fear. The prospect of this study is that the future of sea story crossing in a moral way, not sinking into the sea of fear and pity, can be a future of Kim Hoon’s literature.

• 김주언 | Kim, Joo-eon