1940년대 전반기 이기영 소설의 제국적 주체성 연구-동천홍, 광산촌, 생활의 윤리, 처녀지를 중심으로

Abstract

This study intends to trace the process that Lee, Ki-Young, one of the major KAPF writers, internalized the 'Toyo' discourse which could be characterized as an imperial ideology and transformed himself into a 'psudo-imperial subject'. For this purpose, I will mainly focus on his four novels written between 1940 and 1945. His subjectivity emerging from his writings and life in early 1940s can be appropriately explained through the media of two key elements, proletarian literature and Manchuria. From this attempts, I can conclude that his subjectivity reflects the splits of his consciousness resulting from his dual positions as a colonial intellectual both afflicted by discrimination and desiring to become a colonizer. Joseon's intellectuals could have imaginary experience to be newly born as a universal subject freed from the markings of the colonized within the system of a series of discussions facilitated after the period of 1930s which include the critique of modernism and the establishment of 'toyo' discourse which can be characterized as exploring the spirit of an age in 'the oriental' They earnestly dreamed of being a colonizer while their minds was fissured as a result of facing the realities of a colony. This study categorizes this subjectivity of the later colonial period as an imperial subjectivity. Additionally, the analysis of Lee, Ki-Young's works allows us to illuminate effectively the characteristics of this 'imperial subject'. Meanwhile, researching the aspects of Lee, Ki-Young's works belonging to the early 1930s which are frequently considered as 'a dark period' provides us with the key to understanding how these aspects fed into North Korean literature.