KJCKorea
Journal Central

This thesis aims to consider a meaning that ‘superstition(迷信)’ has as for the masses in the middle of the complicated international situation, with illuminating the two sights following the war that had been coexisted a fever of prophet ‘Jeonggamrok(鄭鑑錄)’ along with curiosity about science in the wake of the Pacific War and the Korean War. Following the liberation, the fearful power of atomic bomb was spread like a rumor through media. In a situation that the people are difficult to get access to the true nature of modern science, ‘Jeonggamrok’, which has honesty based on the experience of long life, was rather a logical and reliable source. In addition to this, following the Korean War, superstition was adhered more firmly to the people's daily life as entertainment. All of Choe Yo-han's <Village with No Doctor>(1950), Jang Yong-hak's <Sketch with Regret>(1952), and Ju Yo-seop's <Whether Clinging to or Dropping?>(1958), which were released under this background, have a common denominator in addressing the aspect that a modern male subject, who has a scientific belief, confronts the limitation of the people or him himself with failing to dispel superstition. These characters come to fall into confusion as saying that the superstition, which had been regarded as what is anti-modern and pre-modern, might be most rational. As examined, a series of the superstition act such as ‘Jeonggamrok’ and a ‘chain letter’ in two times following the war proceeded with having been increased through the people's anxiety and vague hope. The authorities intended to strongly eradicate this disturbing rumor. But it was impossible to eradicate this unless the fundamental anxiety is solved. That is to say, the media and the literary text following the war were capturing the moment that skepticism about modernity comes over and the moment that there was a crack in conviction of science. The superstition was also a coordinate available for confirming most correctly the malady in the times and the necessity of the masses in those days that had been crossed an anxiety about the war and a skepticism about the authorities.

Post-war Period, ‘Jeonggamrok(鄭鑑錄)’, ‘Chain Letter’, Science, Superstition, Modernity, Rumor, Taboo