북한문학에 다가서온 과정

Abstract

The aim of this article is to outline in what context and position the study on North Korean literature was formed, and what are the main problems of its contents. North Korean literature is literature in North Korea’s political system, but it is connected to the stream of modern Korean literature since colonial period. Therefore, North Korean literature is to be read in a special relationship with the North Korean political system, and at the same time, it requires literary and historical reading. Interest in North Korean literature was driven by the will to restore the activities of writers and critics who defected to North Korea. What often preceded the "objective study" on North Korean literature was the mandate of securing national homogeneity. The national approach to North Korean literature has often been made in a way that defines the content of "progressive national literature." However, how to evaluate the anti-Japanese revolutionary literature that emerged in the Juche era reminded us that the prospect of national integration was not simple. This is because the anti-Japanese revolutionary literature was discovered/designed in the process of solidifying special sovereign power. There is still a need to historically explore North Korean literature in relation to the North Korean regime or its ideology and bureaucratic control. Especially in the case of North Korean literature, the importance of checking the original edition and the revision process should be emphasized. As reading of North Korean literature expands its margins and adds such depth of research, it will be possible to investigate literary universality.