2023, Vol., No.35

Journal of Manchurian Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 1738-3668
https://journal.kci.go.kr/manchuria

This paper utilizes discourse analysis to investigate the motives behind the special column “Building a New Movement for Korean Literature in Manchuria” in the Manseon ilbo in the early 1940s. The analysis explores the topic from three dimensions: political organization, journalism, and literary groups. The Korean Consonance Union initiated a reform movement to improve the estranged relationship with Korean literary figures in Manchuria through a “comprehensive literary movement,” which set off a debate on Korean immigrants’ proper place in Manchuria’s literary world. The editor-in-chief of the Manseon ilbo changed from Yeom Sang-seop to Hong Yang-myeong, which shifted from the former’s resistant attitude against building a new culture in Manchuria to the latter’s cooperative efforts to work with Japanese magazines and the Korean Consonance Union. The voluntary participation of Korean literary figures in Manchuria in the construction of the literary world can also be seen as a cause of this debate, as they were conscious of the identity crisis of the literary world. However, with the establishment of the State of Manchukuo, the number of Korean immigrants increased rapidly, and their class structure and regional distribution also changed significantly. The debate on the new movement their literary works to fit the current situation. The debate on the new movement reflects the sense of crisis and response to these issues.

This paper examines the political and cultural context of Seon-Kei, or Korean literature in Manchuria and the efforts made to construct the Seon-Kei literary identity amidst the Japanese colonial context. Specifically, the paper focuses on the Inner Manchuria Culture Symposium, where Japanese, Manchu, and Seon-Kei writers engaged in dialogue on whether to write in Japanese or their own mother tongues. The paper reveals the Seon-Kei as a fictive identity of a colonized ethnic group and analyzes the group’s rejection of the Japanese writing system as a form of resistance. This sentiment grew out of a desire to recreate and reimagine Manchuria as a new country, distinct from both China and colonial Korea. However, due to the semi-colonial status of Manchuria under Japanese imperialism, this desire failed to build political and cultural foundations and eventually subsumed within the discourse of colonial power.

This paper examines the intellectual discourse regarding the place and function of Korean-language writing in Manchuria during the Manchukuo period. I look specifically at several editorials that appeared in the Korean newspaper Manseon ilbo. These primary sources appeared during the literary zenith of the Manchukuo period between 1937 and 1942, five years mainly characterized by widespread debates about what constituted Manchukuo national culture. I argue that the participation of Korean intellectuals in these debates indicates their desire to be seen as an autonomous group disassociated with the Japanese. The fact that some of the subsequent writing appeared in Chinese translation suggests that it was important for Chinese people as well to see Koreans in a new light. The newspaper articles discussed below show a propensity to change perceptions about Korean belonging in Manchuria through literature and intellectual production. From another perspective, the Manseon ilbo articles shed light on how Korean intellectuals understood their production value vis-à-vis the nation- building discourses of Manchukuo.