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Joo Yeong‐seop’s Internal Logic and Its Voluntary Ground in the Late Period under the Rule of Japanese Imperialism

경지현 1

1경북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This research focuses on internal and external factors that led Joo Yeong‐seop to fell voluntarily in Japanese fascism. We derive the ground of voluntariness in his falling into Japanese fascism from Joo Yeong‐seop’s texts, and examine four scenarios written as the outcomes of his absorption into the fascism. Joo Yeong‐seop’s perception in the late period under the rule of Japanese imperialism was linked to the concept of ‘Orient’ that Japanese fascism emphasized for its ideology of the Greater East‐Asian Co‐prosperity Sphere. This perception was an extension of his original view that ‘romanticism should be pursued based on realities.’ Joo Yeong‐seop’s serious reflection on modern dramas and culture began with his negation of the Western‐style modernization of Chosun, and this brought forth romanticism that emphasizes the world of ‘imagination.’ This basis was similar in principle to what Japanese fascism pursued, which was the creation of a new world and the construction of totalitarian integrated utopia by criticizing Western modernism. After all, Joo Yeong‐seop’s romanticism and Japanese fascism were interconnected with each other through ‘negative perception of Western modernism’ and ‘imagination of ideal society’ based on the negative perception. Logics based on the theoretical intimacy between Joo Yeong‐seop’s romanticism and Japanese fascism were implemented as they were in his four scenarios. They were represented as ‘negating Western modernism’ and ‘pursuing utopia called Greater East Asia.’ In these works, Joo Yeong‐seop implemented the logic of anti‐Western fascism effectively by denying Seoul, and supported the theory of Greater East‐Asian Co‐prosperity by completing the imagined geography of ‘land‐sea‐air.’ Joo Yeong‐seop’s beginning of ‘romanticism blooming on realism’ was triggered by the negation of Western modern dramas, and consequently, enabled the negation of ‘realities’ and consequently required a new world. Through this, the ideal of Japanese fascism, which is the construction of the Greater East‐Asian Co‐prosperity Sphere, could be represented. However, the ideal world formed by the union of the ideal society pursued by his romanticism and Greater East Asia pursued by Japanese imperialism, namely, the fascist vision enclosed completely within his internal logic, was nothing but a fantasy in the real world.

Citation status

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