초기 재미 한인 문학과 변혁의 구상–전낙청의 <홍경래전>, <홍중래전>을 중심으로

Abstract

Nakchung Thun(1876~1953) is a first-generation American immigrant from Jungju, Pyongan Province. He wrote at least 8 novels and 6 essays, and these works had a wide spectrum of ‘excessive’ in both content and form, from traditional to new. In the 1920s, he wrote a novel about Hong Kyung-nae, a hometown figure representing the 19th century’s reformation movement, which is based on real history, and Hong Jung-nae, a fictional setting that combines the history of descendants. Through reviewing the reformation activities described in the two works, I am able to confirm that there were many factors that reflected the experience and reality in the immigrant society. A typical example is Hong Kyung-rae's meeting with his colleagues, which was held in a regular and systematic manner similar to that of the Korean National Association. Meanwhile, the indecision cited as the cause of the uprising’s failure can be understood to be deeply related to the reality of the independence movement in America at that time. In the 1930s, Nakchung Thun wrote essays expressing the direction of the movement for transformation, including the independence movement, and the prospect for an ideal society, in which a number of factors are found that correspond to the reformative movement drawn in his two novels. Through this, the prospects for reform to achieve the goals of equality and mutual assistance along with their own views on the reality of the independence movement of the time can be seen as a achievement of the first-generation labor immigrant literature, which has not received modern education, in response to the reality.