식민지 조선과 탐정문학

Abstract

Throughout the 1930's, a considerable number of detective fiction novels were introduced to the public, following the publishing of a full-length detective novel called "Hyeol-Gasa" in 1920. In spite of such literary achievement, the detective novels in Korea had failed to win an academic attention in the history of literature. After the appearance of first detective fiction in 1920 and from the end of 1920's to the 1930's, the detective literature had emerged as a very popular genre in the Koreal literary circle. "Main (魔人)," a series of detective stories written by Kim Nae Seong, were published in "Chosun Ilbo" in installments and gained a great number of readership. This genre of literature had been so popular back then that many writers, that include Kim Yoo Jeong, agreed to translate the foreign detective novels. Considering its popularity and ability to attract readerships during that period, it is surprising that not enough efforts have been poured to the study of Korean detective literature. However, when examining the characteristics and attractions of these popular novels, which emergence was accompanied by the estabilishment of modern city, the advancement of media technology and the appearance of public as media consumers, it is possible to say that they represent the society back in those days most accurately in a way. This inclination appears more intensely in the detective literature because its emergence has a close relationship with the key features of modernity such as the scientific development. Thus, examining whether the popular literature, particularly the detective literature among them, was established as an independent genre during the Joseon period, would be an important key point to understand the modernity during the period.