김송의 해방 전후 야담 활동: 출판인-야담가의 위상과 야사연구회의 존재

Abstract

This article discusses Kim Song’s Yadam activities before and after the liberation of Korea. His memoirs, reflected during the ‘Baekmin era,’ intertwine with the past through several variations in “Me and the Baekmin Era” from the Daehan Ilbo and “Half a Century of Autobiographical Literature” from Shin Dong-A. The stories about his Yadam activities before liberation reveal part of his life history. Lim Moo-chul, who conducted pioneering research on Kim Song’s life immediately after his passing, noted the difficulty of tracing the years, leaving future tasks behind. This article serves as a very late response to those tasks. Clues about when Kim Song assumed the role of president of Yadamsa can be found in Yadam magazine, which indicates he took on the role in September 1941. Additionally, the final issue of Yadam, a rare magazine published in Korean until just before liberation, was a combined February-March 1945 issue. However, the gaps between his memoirs and evidence from the acquisition of Yadamsa to its closure remain a research blind spot. This article emphasizes the inseparable connection between Kim Song’s acquisition of Yadamsa and the Baekmin era, underscoring the necessity to expand the perspective to encompass the history before and after liberation to eliminate the possibility of misinterpretation, such as with the initial excavation, in existing research. It concludes that the existence of the Yasa Research Association, which served as a conduit for the republication of Yadam collection under Baekmin Cultural History’s shadow, must be brought out of the tunnel of oblivion.