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An Essay on the Sincerity of Chinese-letter Literature in Modern Times

Jin-kyun Kim 1

1성균관대학교

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ABSTRACT

The Chinese-letter classical literature in modern times developed outside of the central sphere of modern civilization after the modern enlightenment period. Those intellectuals who pursued the hitherto neglected Chinese-letter classical literature called themselves “flesh and bones (骨肉),” meaning “one’s whole body” or “one’s dear family members,” each other and promoted a strong sense of solidarity. At the heart of the modern Chinese-language literature were such figures as Jeong Il-bo (鄭寅普) and Byeon Young-man (卞榮晩) who shared a sense of solidarity and discovered the value of modern Chinese-letter literature. As they attempted to prevent the literary form from being extinguished, they found a new value in it: sincerity. From their perspective, sincerity is found in a sympathy with life in a community and deserves the credit of the most cherished value in the process of changing life in a community. Even through Chinese-letter literature was being neglected and extinct in society, literary figures could express their sincerity in the literary form. As intellectuals devoted to the Chinese character classics, they were fully determined to transform themselves and asked themselves to help promote the intellectual community devoted to Chinese-language classical literature, which was possible due to a strong sense of solidarity among themselves. Their approaches differentiated themselves from those of the enlightenment discourses in modern times that imposed duties on the public as they imposed duties on themselves instead. Unlike the modern enlightenment discourses that neglected knowledge on Chinese letter classics, they could get access to knowledge of traditional Chinese-text literature from a new perspective.

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