기원의 신화를 향해 가는 길: 최남선의 『백두산 근참기』

Abstract

Writing on trebles and researching on 'Tangun' were the two of most important tasks for Choi Namsun, in 1920s. Being of patriotic ardor, the later was orientated against the Japanese historians who insisted Tangun be the fabrication of a buddhist monk, and the former was performed on the obvious intention of enhancing the patriotic enthusiasm of the colonized Korean people. He tried to substantiate Tangun as the heart of Korean prehistory and as the embarking point of the Korean national history. It was far more important than ever, because the Korean people did not have the practical power of nation-state crucial to the nation-building. His trebles were psedo-religious pilgrimages to the mother county as the most powerful material support of the nationalist patriotism, and were ethnographic fieldworks for elucidating the prehistory of Korea as well. His treble writings culminated in 'Paegdusan-Keunchamgi' written for Paegdusan, the supreme symbol of the imaginary national territory of Korea, where he vomited out the nationalist enthusiasm that could not be expressed in the historical researches. In reading 'Paegdusan-Keunchamgi', I tried to describe and analyze the logic and structure of such a national identity contrived by Choi Namsun.