日據時期韓國的世界文學觀念和中國新文學的位置

Abstract

By the early 20th century, Korea had to accept both colonial rule and invasion of Western civilization, which it had never experienced before. At the same time, modern literature in a true sense mainly written in Korean language appeared in Korea as well. At the same period in China, a completely different literature was born in form and content. The representative works of Chinese literature have been translated into Korean. However, Koreans’ perception and attitude toward Chinese literature was totally different from the time they had accepted classic Chinese literature. Noteworthy is the fact that the modern concept of ‘translation’ was first established in Korea at this time. This fact explains the increasing role of Han-gul (Korean alphabet), and at the same time this indicates that the East Asian-style ‘Republic of Letters’ which used to interact with each other through classic Chinese literature written in Chinese characters without translation had come to an end. Chinese literature, during this period, quickly became the text for others and became alienated from Korean readers. At that time, ‘World Literature’ flooded into the Korean Peninsula, and like any other East Asian country, which sparked a wide range of discussions, including urging to enlighten Korea’s literary circles of their own culture and have them explore Korea’s national literature. Translation, a new way of praticing literature, also reduced Chinese literature to the periphery of world literature. This paper aims to explore the aspects that appear in the early process of accepting and disseminating Chinese literature in Korea, focusing on records that are related to Korea’s acceptance and dissemination of Chinese literature. At the same time, this paper also explores the status change of Chinese literature within the recognition of World Literature in Korea.