조지훈의 등단 추천작과 그 시적 전개

Abstract

Jo Ji Hwoon was born in Jooshil village, Ilwon-myeon, Yeongyang-gun, Kyongsangbook-do in January 1921 (in December 1920 of the lunar calendar) and died in May 1968. Ji Hwoon who learned Chinese classics in his youth from his grandfather, Jo In Suk graduated from Yeongyang elementary school in 1928. Then he entered Haewha college in 1938 and studied liberal arts there. While in college, he started his literary career in 1939 at the recommendation of the literary magazine, Moonjang (The Sentence). The recommendation was completed over a total of three times. The poems recommended include “Gopoongeysang” (“Antique Clothing”) in April 1931, “Seungmu” (“A Buddhist Dance”) in December 1939 and “Bongwhangsu” (“In Contemplation of an Oriental Phoenix”) and “Whyangmun” (“A Fragrant Pattern”) in February 1930. According to him, the secondly recommended poem, “Seungmu” was created through his resolute efforts over a span of almost one year, eleven months after he first got the idea of it, and seven months after he started to write it. It means that he got the idea of “Seungmu” before “Gopoongeysang”, but he completed “Seungmu” after “Gopoongeysang”. It proves that “Seungmu” is really a piece of work which cost him painstaking efforts. Chung Ji Yong who recommended the poems said, “Bongwhangsu”, the third recommended poem, was excellent enough to pass the strictly fair evaluation of a fastidious mother-in-law. “Bongwhangsu”, as Ji Yong mentioned, overcame such problems as life and age, which “Gopoongeysang” and “Seungmu” lack. The process through which Ji Hwoon started his literary career was itself that of ordeal, which was considered almost as the prime example for the younger poets. Looking back on the process of his making the debut as a poet from the perspective of the present literary circumstances in which poets easily make a debut on the literary world and easily disappear from it, it seems to be really a good example in the sense that Ji Hwoon exerted himself in another poem over almost one year even after he was first recommended. Furthermore, the advice and encouragement that Ji Yong as a recommending poet showed in the process of recommendation is also a great example that the later recommending writers should follow.