KJCKorea
Journal Central

This thesis's aim is to examine the meaning of Korean dramatist Oh Youngjin's writing and nationalism through comparative analysis between a novel <Jinsang> and a screenplay <Hanne's Ascension>. Oh Youngjin's screenplay <Hanne's Ascension> still has been recognized as a canon of Korean drama because it successfully represents national identity of Korea. Therefore, Oh Youngjin was evaluated as a representative national dramatist in Korea. However, He already wrote five novels in Japanese, especially in 1930's, under the Japanese ruling era, though it wasn't forced to write only Japanese language during 1930's. So, we can interpret he spontaneously wrote some novels in Japanese language, because he thought writing in Japanese at that time meant to show himself as a well cultured person and to reach to the universality and heart of literature, as like many colonial Korean intellectuals's thought. His novel <Jinsang> was a representative one in Japanese during 1930's. And then, the problem is that <Jinsang> is the original work of screenplay <Hanne's Ascension>, which is evaluated as a canon of Korean drama. However, the focus of <Jinsang> is to criticize the agrarian improvement policy's unrealistic of the Japanese Government General of Korea, whereas the focus of <Hanne's Ascension> is to reveal the fatal tragedy of the Orient world and the mentality of Korean 'Han'(resentment) through Hanne's tragic and fatal narrative. Moreover, Oh Youngjin used Korean traditional performing arts style and Korean folk ritual style for accomplishing this purpose. In conclusion, Oh Youngjin consistently had pursued the nationalism during the colonial Korea, and the after the liberation from Japanese ruling, regardless of his writing languages, Japanese or Korean. For Oh Youngjin, language and nationalism are the separate issues.

Oh Youngjin, bilingual writing, nationalism, canon, Kim Saryang, folk ritual