‘만주국’ 조선계 문단에서의 향토 담론과 안수길의 『북향보』

Abstract

This paper is a study on hometown discourse and the Korean literary world’s writing style influence on ‘Manchukuo’ and An Soo-gil's novel Buk Hyang Bo. As part of the hometown discourse of Imperial Japan, the hometown discourse of the Korean literary world started with “The Manchurian Korean Literature Construction” published in Man Sun Daily in the early 1940 and the “Japan․Korea․Manchukuo’s Cultural Forum” held by Man Sun Daily one month later. Basically, the discourse emphasized the uniqueness of Korean literature, but its essence was the preservation of Korean literature in Manchukuo which was realized with the preserving of Korean literature written in Korean. Yeom Sang-seop was the representative writer who actively pursued a theoretical search for the practice of the Korean literature in Manchukuo, and in essence preserved Korean literature. By his unique political sensitivity, he pointed out that “this guideline should penetrate to the pioneer group and should be used to foster the new-born literary activities of the pioneer group” mentioned in “Art and Literature Guidelines” was the basis of preservation and development of Korean literature in Manchukuo. He also pointed out that ‘Manchukuo’ national literature based on the pioneer literature could also be guaranteed in this way. An Soo-gil actively practiced Yeom Sang-seop’s literary theory and thought that Buk Hyang Bo was the first novel-cum-anthology of his works in Manchukuo period. An Soo-gil confirmed Korean peasants’ qualification as citizens of Manchukuo according to their contributions to the development of Manchukuo in Buk Hyang Bo, and especially emphasized the contribution of rice cultivation or the “reclamation of the paddy field”. Following Yeom Sang-seop’s thought, An Soo-gil also thought that this was a way for Korean peasants to become citizens of Manchukuo, meanwhile, the pioneer literature of Korean people and the peasant literature were the form of pioneers’ mind and the source of their mental power. For this reason, the literary thought shown in the preface of the Yeom Sang-seop in the first collection of Korean literature in Manchukuo, Burgeoning Earth and the literary thought was presented in the preface of the anthology of An Soo-gil’s works. Bukwon was a kind of spiritual pillar and food for An Soo-gil, with which he wrote Buk Hyang Bo.