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The Characteristics of Lim Hwa’s Theater Criticism and its Status in Theatre History

  • The Journal of Korean drama and theatre
  • 2023, (79), pp.11-55
  • DOI : 10.17938/tjkdat.2023..79.11
  • Publisher : The Learned Society Of Korean Drama And Theatre
  • Research Area : Arts and Kinesiology > Other Arts and Kinesiology
  • Received : July 10, 2023
  • Accepted : August 14, 2023
  • Published : August 31, 2023

NI SEN 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on Lim Hwa’s theatre criticism and aims to thoroughly illuminate his world of theatre criticism. Through this, this paper aims to examine Lim Hwa’s theater criticism diachronically, to reveal the unique characteristics of each period, and reexamine his ideas and consciousness structure from the perspective of his theatre criticism. Furthermore, this paper evaluates the position and significance his theatre criticism holds in the history of modern theatre criticism, especially in the history of KAPF (Korean Artists Proletarian Federation) criticism. Immediately after his debut, Lim Hwa actively embraced proletarian literature and its aesthetics, revealing his interest in Großes Schauspielhaus, created by Max Reinhardt, and so forth, leading to his efforts to reform the format of theatre performances that conform to the ideology of KAPF. After joining KAPF, Lim Hwa developed his interests in proletarian theatre movement, and his theatre criticism gradually revealed a distinct political character. Entering the mid-1930s, Lim Hwa published On Song Yeong and On Yoo Chi-Jin. Through his theatre criticism on playwrights, Lim Hwa pursued dialogue and solidarity with major theatre figures of the time, such as Song Yeong and Yoo Chi-Jin. If we look at it this way, Lim Hwa’s criticism can be called a kind of ‘inter-subjectivity’, and the conversation with the theatre author through On Song Yeong and On Yoo Chi-Jin can be seen as an attempt to build an ‘inter-subjectivity’ that Lim Hwa shares with them. In the late 1930s, we can observe a shift in Lim Hwa from the ‘antagonistic attitude’ that harshly criticizes the Shinkuk movement in his early criticism, to a ‘reserved and friendly attitude’ that actively suggests improvements for the development of Shinkuk. In many of his criticism pieces surrounding Shinkuk, especially On Shinkuk, he clearly recognizes the difficulties faced by the Shinkuk while suggesting solutions. These efforts can be considered in the same context as his Introduction to New Literature History and History of Joseon Cinema, and can be perceived as the beginning of his systematic literary theory. Lim Hwa’s theater criticism introduced examples of foreign plays to Joseon, evoked the imagination of early popular theatre, and heralded the start of proletarian theater. His critiques, including On Shinkuk, remain important indicators in the history of Korean theater, suggesting ways to overcome the development and problems of Korean Shinkuk. In addition, Lim Hwa’s theater criticism has an important value in that it promoted the discourse on proletarian theater in the late 1930s along with the unification of the Joseon’s theater movement and the KAPF movement along with his colleagues such as Min Byeong-hui, Song Yeong, and Park Yeong-ho.

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