해방 전후 최남선의 역사 인식과 불함문화론

Abstract

This paper examined how Ch’oe Nam-sŏn’s(1890~1957) theory of Părkan(不咸) Culture, which he argued from the colonial period, impacted his historiography after the liberation and how this theory was also changed. This paper provided comparative and diachronic analyses of Ch’oe’s accounts of ancient Korean history that were published in the colonial period to the liberation period, such as Ashi’-josŏn(1927), “Chosŏn yŏksa ganghwa”(1930), Kosat’ong(1943), Kungmin josŏn yŏksa(1947), Shwipko Pparŭn chosŏn yŏksa(1946) and Sŏngin Kyoyuk kuksa tokpon(1947). In the colonial period Ch’oe’s Nam-sŏn’s descriptions of ancient Korean histories were focused on providing explanations about Tan’gun(壇君)’s descendants such as Chinin(震人) and Paekmin(白民), and Părkan Culture, which based on the worship of heaven, sun and mountains. The focus was on providing accounts of Korean history and culture in relation to those of other ethnicities of Northeast Asia who were also part of Părkan Culture like the Japanese and the Mongols. After the liberation, Ch’oe’s history books and textbooks worked to cultivate historical knowledge for the new Korean people of new Korea. The context for Ch’oe’s publications in the liberation period was one of social divisions among the Koreans, such as the division of the Korean Peninsula and dissension regarding trusteeship. In these situations, Ch’oe insisted that knowledge of Korean history could help bring Koreans together. Because Ch’oe Nam-sŏn’s goal of nation building had come to the forefront of his historiography, ideas of Părkan Culture had be moved into the background. However, we can find that the historical perspectives based on the theory of Părkan Culture continued to play important roles in Ch’oe’s many articles and Sijo(時調) until the end of his life.