‘위성시대’의 도래와 북한문학의 응답 스푸트니크 직후(1957∼1960)의 북한문학 텍스트들

Abstract

This article examines how the cosmic senses inspired by Soviet space planning are shaped in the texts of North Korean literature. By carefully examining the texts published from 1957 to 1960 right after Sputnik, we examine how North Korean literature represents a high technology of satellites and rockets and senses a new space called the universe This machine-star launched by man is a testimony to the morality of the socialist nations and is shaped by the ambitions of peace. Baekseok’s poem “The Third Satellite” conveys the sense of uplifting and ascension of the moment when it pierces through the atmosphere by directly representing the voice of this machine-star. In fact, the voice of the satellite, which was just a beep, provided a new sense of space beyond the world. The literary text symbolizes the space of imagination, the universe, which could never have been conceivable, by borrowing the voices of machine - stars as the most familiar voices of ideology. The voice of ideology calling for members of society comes to call each member as a voluntary producer through the rocket that runs at the speed of the universe after the success of the lunar exploration rocket. On the other hand, the success of satellites and rockets triggered new concerns about science and literature. Park Tae-young’s “Satellite and Poet” is a North Korean literary artist who is asked to reflect reality, and asks how to respond to literature on the achievement of technology. This novel, whose main character is South Korean poetry, is a symptom of the agonies of how literature should respond to the changing times of mankind reaching the universe, and how literature is aesthetized by the achievement of technology. In North Korea’s literary text, Sputnik is a subject of aspiration and a symbol of a completed socialist power. Especially, North Korea experienced the physical and technical offensive of the United States through the Korean War. This memory is also the source of North Korea’s desire for a “socialist power”. This memory was also a part of the foundation of the long enthusiasm of fanaticism and machinery for excessive passion and technological power found in North Korean society and North Korean literature.