‘인생’(人生) 개념의 정립과 한일 근대문학관 형성에 관한 비교 고찰 ―‘life’의 번역과 ‘생명’ 개념의 정착을 중심으로―

Abstract

The concept of ‘human life’ in early modern Korea and Japan has created an important momentum to build modern literary thought. From the start, the concept of ‘human life’ contained a flexible attribute by ‘life’ as the signifier itself, and therefore it had polysemy. It also provided a basis for expressing various literary thought depending on the context of a writer and would be an element while showing points of difference from Korea and Japanese modern literature. Matthew Arnold, who has a strong influence on Korea and Japanese modern literature by introducing the concept of ‘human life’, has left rooms for differences regarding ‘human life’ while positioning the relationship between ‘human life’ and ‘literature’ into universal domain of man’s life. During the Meiji period of Japan, Kitamura Toukoku arranged literary thought of Yamaji Aizan into ‘utilitarianism’ and tried to contextualize ‘life’ in the direction of expressing individual mental freedom. In this sense, the concept of ‘human life’ in the Meiji period of Japan embraced the domain of ‘individual’ and ‘society’ while including the conflicting points by both parties through ‘life’. Furthermore, ‘life’ in 1920s’ Joseon served as a momentum to create each of thought in terms of ‘individual’ and ‘society’ and also harmonize them together through ‘life’. This was represented by ‘art for life’s sake’ from Lee Kwangsu and Kim Uk. Therefore, it important to examine the concept establishment of ‘human life’ and settlement process of ‘life’ in that it shows the modern literature of Korea and Japan becomes the corner stone in the context of each country.