구한말 제주 지식인 心齋 金錫翼의 시문학 考

Abstract

This paper analyzes the poem literature of Shimjae Kim Seok-Ik (1885-1956), an intellectual who was born in Jeju Island in the late 19th century of Korea when the country was doomed to be taken over by Japanese power. Shimjae was born in Jeju but he moved extensively during his lifetime. He visited Ahn Byung-Taek in Changseong, Jeon-ra Province in order to learn from him; and further travelled the areas of Hamgyung-Do (the north part of Korea) and Japan as well. The extensive movement for academic and travel causes through the life course was unique to him, which was not found in the previous generations of Jeju Island born intellectuals. And his literature works all present such life trajectory that is full of adventure. Shimjae’s poem literature tells us the following points. Firstly, as for writers’ attitudes to life and literature, Shimjae highlighted more the former than the latter. Secondly, Shimjae perceived Chinese poems and Korean poems as a separate, independent unit. As for Chinese poems, he focused upon its process to be formed; whereas as for Korean poems, poets are the main focus. It is supposed that by considering Chinese and Korean poems separately and leaving the legacies of Chosun’s poems behind, Shimjae was intended to get the next generations to know that Chosun was a great country with cultural heritage despite its perish to be gone under Japanese rule. Again, with that very act of perceiving Chinese and Korean poems as a separate unit, he paved the way to establish the basis upon which the literature records of Jeju-do were able to be arranged into a coherent form. The key idea presented in the poem literature of Shimjae Kim-Seok Ik is “reflection”. This paper studied Shimjae’s poems with the two key words of people and places. The main idea that is presented in his poems is fighting spirit against Japanese Occupation. The people that Shimaje paid attention to are those who persisted one’s fighting spirit during the period of the Occupation (1910-1945) and carried on an independence movement against it. Shimjae expressed his emotions by travelling around the region of Hamgyung-do. Jeju-do turned to be an open space from a closed one during Japanese Occupation, which allowed him to travel further to the mainland out of Jeju. The poems of Shimjae suggest that he continued pondering with a bitter feeling over the independence of nation; and over how to overcome the painful lives of ordinary people in Korea. This shows us that the struggling, fighting consciousness against Japanese rule comes all through the Nosa literature school that includes Songsa Ki Woo-Man and Boohae Ahn Byoung-Taek. Also, this indicates that those intellectuals did not turn around from the social issues that face their generations. This paper tried to analyze the literature of Shimjae in a great detail. Further studies that research not only Shimjae but also Jeju-do are expected to come forward in order to reach to the deepen and better understanding of them.