1930년대 한국 현대시에 나타난 지방주의 문제

Abstract

In 1936, Lim-Hwa posits the theory of provincialism. Lim criticizes the concept of regionalism[particularism] as it is linked to Western romanticism and imperialist discourse. Lim’s problematics is intertwined with the traditional, classical, and world literary discourse of the time. In the discourse of the 1930s, Joseon is named as a “region[particular area]” in the contradiction of being both a relative concept to the universal and a constitutive interior that substitutes for the universal. This is where the logic of the ‘internal dialect’ is called for, which cracks the imperial logic that conveniently takes the contradiction between the universal and the particular. A discursive struggle unfolds to escape the ‘particular area Joseon’ provided by the empire, while simultaneously constructing the ‘local Joseon’ that constitutes the heterogeneous identity of the ‘nation-state’. Lim’s logic is based on the criticism of Park Young-hee, who chose to take the concrete over the historic. Referring to the logic of Kim Tae-joon, Seo In-sik, and others, there is room to expand the discussion to declare the place of the heterogeneous and pluralized subject as tradition is ‘things that are not nations’. Since the empire is not the world, particularism, dialect and rurality discourse are meaningful as a counter-logic to world literature as the essence. Kim Ki-rim mistook ‘The Decline of the West’ for the disappearance of the aporia in which Joseon culture was embedded, and Kim Sa-ryang tactically affirmed Joseon linguism as a way of placing what is Joseon outside the empire. This is where the discussion of the uniqueness of ‘dialects’ in their competitive and complementary relationship begins. The discussion of the dialects and rurality of the time leads to the possibility of self-representation that subverts the dominant strategy of assigning provincial Joseon to the interior of the empire. This aspect can be read in the late 1930s poetry of Baek Seok, Lee Yong-ak, and Kim Young-rang. In 1942, the possibility of the question itself is erased, starting with ‘The Dark Period’. The protracted discursive struggle to reverse the impossibility of regionalism[particualrism] is erased. The discourse of regionalism[particualrism] still holds the status of an aporia that will drive subsequent literary history. This is why the resonance of Lim’s contradictory demands is deeper and more poignant.