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A Scene of Nietzschean Thoughts in 1930s’ Poetry (I) - Focusing on the Nine Members’ Society Poets

Shin, Beom Sun 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article explores the Nietzscheanism of the 1930’s Nine Members’Society (Kuinhoe) poets. I examine three poems, such as Kim Kirim’s“New Year’s Eve” (Cheya), Chong Ji Yong’s “Sadness from StreamlinedShape” (Yusonaesang) and Yi Sang’s “The Story of a Street out of aStreet” (Kaoegajon), all published in the magazine Poetry and Novel(1936). These three works thematize the poetic motif, ‘a street.’ This paperredirects the research perspective on explaining ‘a street’ from WalterBenjamin’s concept flaneur to Nietzsche’s concept of ‘the Übermensch’srapid running.’ ‘The child in a dream’ from Chong Jiyong’s Poem “Fanwith Ying and Yang emblems” (Taegukson) and ‘Mr. Cha-Pal’ from YiSang’s poem “The Start of Mr. Cha-Pal” (Cha-pal-siui chulbal) are mainNietschean characters who represent the very concept of ‘theÜbermensch’s rapid running.’Park Taewon’s short story “The Master of Café Bangranjang” (Bangranjangchuin) also listed in the same journal Poetry and Novel (1936) gives me a crucial clue to interpret these three poems all together. I gain this cluefrom my reading of the chapter, “The Way of the Creating One” fromThus Spake Zarathustra. ‘A star’ in the chapter indicates the Übermenschof the first movement, “Wheels Running by Nature.” In other words, theNine Members Society’s exploration of philosophical thoughts is deeplyrelated to the Neitzschean Übermensch thesis. This paper attempts to interrelate and interconnect Nine Members’ literaryworks and explain how the Neitzschean Übermensch thesis is set andpursued with a specific aim by these members.

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