『조선문단』과 이광수

Abstract

Yi Kwangsu introduced the public character into Changjo by participating in it as the other. However, in Chosunmundan, which emphasized “Yi Kwangsu’s presidency” instead of “equal responsibility”, Yi’s role as the other disappeared. This is because Chosunmundan tried to enlarge the proper noun Chosunmundan (Korean literary world), which had been unable to escape from a small coterie, and to reorganize it as a common noun ‘Chosunmundan’ through the competition between established writers and budding writers recommended by Yi. And the first recommended writer, Choi Soehae, not only eventually became a novelist but also came to lead meetings for a joint review with Bang Inkun as staff. The coterie members, with the exception of Bang and Choi, rarely attended meetings. Furthermore, by giving equal rights to every attendee and by asking the leftist writers to take part in meetings, they invited the abandonment of “Yi Kwangsu’s presidency”. The meeting accelerated dissolution of the coterie and separation of Choi from Yi’s influence. Furthermore, some budding writers became sympathetic with socialistic ideas. Therefore, contrary to his expectations, Yi was relocated not as the chief of budding writers but as the head of established writers or Bourgeois novelists. In that sense, through his own existence, Choi impressively showed that in the midst of “Yi Kwangsu’s presidency”, the negation and the sublation (aufheben) of it had already begun. By helping Choi to take his position in the Korean literary world, Yi accomplished his historical role and returned to the other. However, Choi continued to publish his writings in Yi`s Tonggwang or Shinmin after he left Chosunmundan and joined the KAPF. And by seceding from KAPF and entering the Maeilshinbo Company, he caricatured Yi’s historical role and erased the ideological position of himself. In this way, Choi not only separated from Yi Kwangsu but also reunited with him as literary merchants.