金来成と日本の探偵文壇

Abstract

Kim Nae-sung studied abroad at Waseda University during the colonial period. He had a profound knowledge about detective novels as he had enjoyed reading them in his youth and devoured Japanese literature and detective novels from all over the world during his studies in Japan. He made his debut as a writer in the Japanese literary world with his publication An Oval Mirror(1935.3) in the magazine Profuiru(Profile, in English). Thus, the experience of being in the Japanese detective literary world, which can be said to be the beginning of his career as a detective novelist, is very important for understanding his novels.　This paper will contemplate how situations of the Japanese detective novel world were portrayed in the 1930s in his literature, focusing on An Oval Mirror, The Murder of a Detective Novelist(1935.12), and his essays. In particular, it will consider how the debate over [‘Honkaku(本格)’/ ‘Henkaku(変格) ’], or realism, which were hot topics within the Japanese detective novel world, is described focusing on “play,” the motif of the novel The Murder of a Detective Novelist.　As reevaluation of Kim Nae-sung has been ongoing not only in Korea, but also in Japan, it is necessary to reconsider theories of his literature and his theory of realism.