본문 바로가기
  • Home

A double-edged view of imperialism -Focusing on Choi In-hoon's "Duman River" and "Christmas Carol"

  • Chunwon Research journal
  • Abbr : Chunwon Research journal
  • 2020, (17), pp.269-298
  • DOI : 10.31809/crj.2020.04.17.269
  • Publisher : Chunwon Research Society
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature > Korean Literature
  • Received : March 15, 2020
  • Accepted : April 10, 2020
  • Published : April 30, 2020

Park, Young Sin 1

1홍익대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

In Choi In-hoon's literature, the coloniality of imperialism lies in the abyss of modern Korea. When analyzing Choi In-hoon's work, although it is particularly important to expand consciousness as a subject, it has been concluded that the existing studies have been extensively researched in terms of historical, discourse, and themes, but there is a lack of research on subjectivity. What we should note here is that he does not consistently criticize the issue of coloniality. Under the colonial rule of Japanese colonialism in the Tuman River, he is working on the duality of critical consciousness and unconscious acceptance of Japan. H-eup, which appears in the actual work, corresponds to the life of Choi In-hoon, who spent his childhood in Hoeryeong. Since it was 'childhood', empathy and sympathy with the Japanese would have led to animal intimacy. That doesn't mean they have a positive attitude. As mentioned earlier, in H-eup, which was established as a logistical base, Koreans have a conscious rejection but gradually become dull and assimilate through works. On the other hand, "Christmas Carol" shows a strong refusal to accept blind Western consciousness and satirical criticism of it. Unlike the subjective consciousness of the Tuman River, which we saw earlier, novels with a tendency to become aware of the problem of the society at that time and the problems of the individual living at the time and self-awareness appear. In other words, it is a work focused on what is the main subject of modernity and who is at the center of it. In fact, "Christmas Carol" is a conscious flow technique, and there are many experiments in which there is no logic between rich people and a mixture of fantasy and reality. In addition, there are few independent studies, and comparative studies centering on subject consciousness are also not extensive. What is remarkable is that in the Tuman River, you are already completely dominated and accept your life under the absorbed colonization, not antagonism, as your daily life. However, even in the situation where he has already accepted the Western consciousness and began to transform and refract as ours, Choi In-hoon shows a strong antipathy toward him. That is, through these two works, one can discover the subjective contradiction inherent in his literature. Through this, this paper accepts the consciousness of the problem of prior research to a certain extent, but analyzes the "Tuman River," which is expressed as an appreciation for Japan expressed by Choi In-hoon's unconsciousness, and the "Christmas Carol," which criticizes Western imperialism in the sense that it can become cultural coloniality. something to do. Through this, revealing Choi's contradictory subjectivity can expand the diversity of discussion. In addition, this will be a work to overcome the limitations of the existing discussion and closely examine the flow of establishing subjectivity by dividing his perception before and after realizing reality.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.