이형기 초기 비평에서 역사와 창조성의 문제

Abstract

While Lee Hyeong-ki was mentioned repeatedly in the ‘pure-participation controversy’ of the 1960s in Korean Literature, his early criticism has not been thoroughly focused on since he established his literary world as a poet. Lee’s criticism, which was published intensively in the early 1960’s, inherits the pure critique of the so-called ‘Korean Writers Association,’ which means that he formed his own criticism in the shadow of Cho Yeon-hyun and Kim Dong-ni. However, considering that Cho and Kim have also been influenced by Hideo Kobayashi, we can assess the effect relationship between Kobayashi, Kim, -Cho, and–Lee in terms of impressionist criticism or creative criticism. Lee’s early criticism, including his seminal “Reflections on the Function of Literature”(1964), follows historical view of Kobayashi, who opposed to the historical materialism that presupposes the qualitative difference between the times and the era and has the optimistic outlook that leads from one goal to another. This view of history also works in the same way in Lee’s impressionist logic. As the materialistic view of history which is based on the abstracted scheme should turn its direction rightly to the living experience of reality, Lee recognizes that creative criticism must set its foundation on individual truth, not generalized fact. For Lee, the creativity of criticism and criticism on the materialistic view of history both have the same logical roots: they are sides of the same coin.