식민지 근대와 '취미' 개념의 형성

Abstract

The present research is premised on the idea that ‘taste(趣味)’was recognized in early modern Korea, and that the new cultural exercise of taste developed into a form of modern popular culture. In the first place, the origin and influence of the concept of ‘taste(趣味)’is explored. The concept of ‘taste’in modern Korea emerged through the influence of the West/Japan, and in the context of Korea’ domestic background. The aesthetics of the modern West, and ‘taste’─a concept that summarized it ─influenced Meiji Japan, leading to the emergence of the translated term for taste, ‘shumi(趣味, しゅみ).’In various kinds of modern mass media─such as journals, newspapers and magazines published in Korea from the 1900s─the influence of Japan’s ‘taste’discourse could be found. The aesthetics and the culture of taste of the new intellectual class in the late eighteenth century are examined as precursors that enabled the modern concept of‘ taste’to emerge. The concept of ‘taste’partly maintained its traditional usage until the 1910s,but it began to expand, dislocate and transform itself, thus, manifesting its vitality, with the influence of the cultural perspective of the Modern Enlightenment Period and using terms translated from the West (via Japan). By these means, ‘taste’was assured its modern value, as it combined with the discourse of civilization, education, industry or national salvation. On the one hand, it could be seen that ‘taste(趣味)’was used as a technique to control the colony. Moreover, school education played an important role in the establishment of taste, which was a rather personal or privatized realm of ‘sensibility’or ‘individuality,’to become an institution that defined everyday life. Textbooks for “Self-Cultivation”included ‘taste’as part of their educational content. A student’s ‘taste’was included in the school register as an item that represented and defined an individual’character and personal history. Taste,shaped and acquired through education, was underpinned by the belief that it reflected the modern man’s intellectual capacity and character. Based on these discussions, it could be seen that ‘taste’, or ‘hobby’, in modern Korea had become an important representation which established ‘the modern individual’s’existence and identity. It unveiled the context in which modern ‘individual’was constructed in the apolitical realm of everyday life by exploring the ways in which the cultural subject, who cultivated modern ‘taste’through modern popular culture, was imagined, enlightened and educated.