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Present Meaning of “Barbarian Flower” by Lee Yong-ak from Perspective of Reproduction

  • Korean Language & Literature
  • 2015, (95), pp.489-513
  • Publisher : Korean Language & Literature
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

Lee, Kang-Ha 1

1전북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

From the perspective of identity, Lee Yong-ak’s “Barbarian Flower (Violet, Orangkaekkot)” is a very difficult poem. The term, “Barbarian Flower” itself is a paradoxical combination of brutal image of “Orangkae (Barbarian)” and soft and pure plant image, “Kkot (Flower).” In “Barbarian Flower,” “Orangkae” as a subject of violence and looting, found only in local distinctiveness and “Orangkae” who is an object of sympathy, as a northern minority, are floated contradictorily. This contradictory “Orangkae” is interpreted as an objective correlative of Korean people in an oppressed position during the Japanese colonial era in critical discourse, and on the other hand, it is also interpreted as a colonial subject by Japan’s Naeseon Ilche (Korea and Japan are One) policy. Critical discourse surrounding “Barbarian Flower” where two contradictory subjects of identification are mixed, is not uniform. These aspects of reproduction such as citation, parody, pastiche and plagiarism of “Barbarian Flower” show how it is consumed indirectly. The aspects of its consumption may be the meaning of “Barbarian Flower” accepted at the present site beyond the meaning of institutional criticism for the establishment of the canon. This study aims to investigate and reveal the present meaning of “Barbarian Flower” by examining the aspects of reproduction of Lee Yong-ak’s “Barbarian Flower.” For Lee Yong-ak’s “Barbarian Flower,” the elements identified by its citation poems are divided into ‘1) simple plant image, 2) Sympathy for the minority and the weak, 3) Korean people’s oppressed position under Japanese occupation, and 4. Northern sentiment.’ Non-uniform creative acceptance of the canon is rather than the problem of the citation poems, that of the ambiguity of the meaning of the original text itself. Due to this ambiguity, although the most textbook theme of “Barbarian Flower” is the identification with minority and the weak in the citation poems, its use is not active in folk poetry series. Second, the citation poems misperceive Lee Yong-ak’s Northern locality as Manchuria area, not the border with Far East of Russia. Third, no citation poems that express respect and contempt, the most typical tones of parody are found. Although Lee Yong-ak’s “Barbarian Flower” is a work in the process of canonization, it is a work structured so that the proper reproduction is made impossible. As of the time of writing, creative reproduction of the meaning of “Barbarian Flower” that is intertwined with external context complexly is a dilemma. The meaning of “Barbarian Flower” in the site of reproduction, which should take on this dilemma, comes to be in a condition that cannot but be narrowed.

Citation status

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