타고르의 조선에 대한 인식과 조선에서의 타고르 수용

Abstract

In Korea, Rabindranath Tagore’s compactly worded poem of praise, “The Lamp of the East”, is well known. In this poem, he relayed a message of ray of hope to Korean people who passed through aggressive colonial period, and it stroke a strong chord among Korean people owing to the common ideology of nationalism. In spite of his significant position in Korea as a foreign poet, it is also true that there are controversial debates on his “The Lamp of the East” and another Korea-related poem, “The Song of the Defeated”. Without sufficient study on Tagore’s thought and literature, some scholars even bring up serious misgivings about Tagore’s sincerity towards colonial Korea. Given this background, the present article suggests another perspective on Tagore’s poems in two ways. Firstly, Tagore identified Korea with India as ‘the defeated’ and sympathized deeply with Korean people. Secondly, his attitude was resolute and consistent in encouraging Korean people who suffered severely under the Japanese colonialism. In addition, his perception and attitude were firmly based on the love for mankind, namely universal brotherhood. In the early 1920s, many of Tagore’s works were translated into Korean and he was the most famous foreign poet in Korea. Nevertheless, in relation to Korean literature, his influence seemed to be limited. However, it should be noted that his poems contributed to the birth of colonial Korea’s great poet, Han Yong-un who prompted a qualitative change in Korean literature. On the whole, Tagore's limited influence on colonial Korean literature and Han Yong-un’s critiques found in “After Reading Tagore’s Poem (Gardenisto)” were both related to the view that his poems were lacking in combative spirit against aggressive colonialism. In this connection, the most important factor in the initial stage of reception of Tagore in Korea was a non-literary one, i. e. nationalism. In sum, there existed an apparent gap between Korean people’s desire for freedom and Tagore’s view on nationalism. Ironically, in spite of this difference in nationalistic orientations between Tagore and colonial Korean intelligentsia, Tagore has remained the most loved foreign poet in Korea till today because of that very nationalistic desire of Korean people in colonial times.