재만조선인의 이주와 정주 과정에 대한 인식의 문제 － 현경준의 경우를 중심으로 －

Abstract

This study focus on the works by Hyeon Gyeong-jun during the period of Manchukuo to analyze the writer’s consciousness and epistemological spatial perception against the Japanese policies and capture the fissure in the reality perceptions. The previous studies labeled Hyeon a pro- Japanese writer in some cases and a hidden resistant writer in other cases. Moving away from such evaluations, this study set out to review the historical reality in which Koreans were in Manchuria in the macro level and analyze the concerned works in the micro level to check the dynamics in the mutually breathing process. This study thus point out that it is crucial to in-depth interpret the ways the distorted and refracted writer's consciousness was precisely manifested in the migration and settlement process in addition to confirming the realistic difficulties facing the writers in Manchukuo. Hyeon’s works were interpreted for their implications with no values involved based on the fact that those writers should be seen in the historical “continuity” of migration and settlement. The northeast region where Manchukuo was located became the foundation for Chinese Korean Autonomous Prefecture later. Moving to Gando with the aspiring hopes of independence, the Koreans tried to write a history of settlement in the northeast region whether it was their intention or not. While Japan saw Manchukuo as a base to invade and colonize China, the Koreans holding a dual position saw hopes and possibilities of “autonomous country” or independence in it, which was neglected in the previous studies. These are confirmed, in this study, through new interpretations of Yumaeng and its adaptations. I argue that it is not right to label him a pro-Japanese writer in terms of literary ideas. Instead, he demonstrated “resistance” against the Japanese that tried to “exploit” “block,” and “conciliate” “koreans” in the “settlement” process in “Manchuria.” At the same time, he exhibited a double-sided perception regarding the “autonomy and independence of Koreans in Manchuria” and expressed the fierce perception of reality about the “re-positioning of Manchukuo” in his Korean literary works. In other words, Hyeon, a literary intellectual, tried to realize “independent virtual space of Koreans” in his works as an experimental process of going through the waves of institutional power.