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A Study on the Representation of Young Intellectuals in the Popular Novels of the Late 1930s - Focusing on Lee Gun-Young’s The Third Slave (『第三奴隸』) and Um Heung-Sup’s The Desert of Life (『人生沙漠』)

HA NIE JUNG 1

1카이스트 인문사회과학부

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper purposes to consider how young intellectuals are represented in the popular novels of the lateer period of Japanese colonization, especially in Lee Gun-Young's The Third Slave (『第三奴隸』) and Um Heung-Sup's The Desert of Life (『人生沙漠』). In Lee and Um's novels, the real situations of Joseon intellectuals and farmers in the Colonial Period were represented. But during the late 1930's, when Japanese regulations were getting reinforced, the writers could not help but write popular novels in order to avoid censorship. The Third Slave (『第三奴隸』) and The Desert of Life (『人生沙漠』) are also kinds of popular novels, but in these novels, we can find the 'real' representation of young intellectuals of Joseon who could not find any visions and who were not cheerful far from the Japanese discourse. And along with this, the new prospects of the young intellectuals of Joseon were suggested. Especially, the romance of these novels showed more than a melodramatic story; it demonstrated issues such as the importance of intellectuals' ethical relationship with money and conviction (in The Third Slave) or the relationship of comrades that is conviction-oriented.

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