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The Spanish Civil War and Kim Kirim

  • 인문논총
  • 2023, 62(), pp.231-252
  • DOI : 10.33638/JHS.62.10
  • Publisher : Institute for Human studies, Kyungnam University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : August 31, 2023
  • Accepted : October 10, 2023
  • Published : October 31, 2023

Han Sung Kim 1

1숙명여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to examine why the process and outcome of the Spanish Civil War were constantly recalled in liberated Korea among intellectuals, including Kim Kirim. The liberated space became a time of division rather than integration and unity, as evidenced by the establishment of the Korean government in 1948. The rapidly polarizing situation between North and South was not unlike the situation in Spain, where civil war was already expected in the early 1930s. The similarities between the Korean War and the Spanish Civil War can be seen in the fact that the Spanish Civil War grew into an international conflict with the support of Nazism, Fascism, the Soviet Union, and the International Brigades. What was once a confrontation between fascist and socialist forces turned into an intense confrontation between liberal and socialist forces. As a result of World War II, the fascist forces were defeated. However, Kim sought to resolve the situation in Korea with a pragmatic attitude, constantly wary of exclusive nationalism that suppressed universal values. Kim constantly invoked W. H. Auden, George Orwell, and Albert Camus because these writers resisted the dichotomous confrontation of ideologies based on humanity. Experiencing all the conflicts, divisions, and intrigues of the Spanish Civil War, these writers became critical of communism and were especially wary of idealized totalitarianism. Along with these writers, Kim sought to find the individual self by criticizing the totalitarian order that destroyed humanity and clarified the value of intellectuals. Kim’s continued interest in the political situation in Spain shows what he was concerned about and tried to overcome.

Citation status

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