상생 공간으로서의 ‘농촌’과 ‘고향정신’ - 김준태의 시를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper examines the "countryside" as a space of coexistence and the "spirit of hometown" as depicted in the poetry of Kim Jun-tae. Kim Jun-tae, who made his literary debut in 1969 by winning the spring literary contests of Sannam Educational Newspaper, Jeonnam Daily, and Jeonnam Ilbo, vividly portrayed the realities of rural life during the industrialization era, bringing forth the "spirit of hometown." His poetry employs natural elements and objects from rural areas as poetic language and, through the use of everyday speech and vivid colloquialisms, candidly and directly presents the contradictions caused by industrialization. This was not an attempt to depict an idealized image of the countryside, as was typical in previous rural poetry, but rather to recreate a realistic portrayal of rural life, a reflection of the poet's "literary practice" and "poetic strategy." In his poetry, the countryside is represented as a space where rural communities collapse and become almost like ruins due to the effects of industrialization and urbanization, while cities are depicted as spaces of corruption or as cold places where even human life is governed by the logic of capital. This points to how urban lifestyles and cultures encourage people to move away from traditional ways of living and contribute to the destruction of rural communities. Furthermore, Kim criticizes the tendency of people to easily abandon their hometowns in pursuit of economic gain, while emphasizing the importance of the "roots" and "vitality" that the countryside holds, producing works that stress the "spirit of hometown." In other words, Kim Jun-tae's poetry was able to capture the concrete and multidimensional reality of rural life, moving beyond abstract and superficial images of the countryside, as a result of his critical awareness of the contemporary situation.