세계문학의 정전화 과정-1920-30년대 『더버빌가의 테스』의 수용을 중심으로

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the process of canonization of world literature during the colonial period, focusing on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles. This paper was an attempt to explore the origins of Hardy’s works as masterpieces and to analyze the causes of their popularity and focus of reading, based on the fact that a significant amount of Hardy’s literature was translated and introduced in the 1920s and 1930s. In this process, it was revealed that Hardy was called a writer who resisted the times, and the fact that Tess’s strength and worker spirit were the focus was identified. Additionally, I reviewed Kim Ki-jin’s translation intention and the popular elements of “Beonlong(「飜弄」)”. The results of the discussion can be summarized in four points. First, Hardy was called a critic of the ‘Victorian era’ and embodied protests against old-fashioned morality, law, and religion in literature. In particular, Yang Ju-dong broadened the horizon of interpretation by reading the novel as a novel in which human free will and fate coexist. Second, during the colonial period, Tess was translated twice and introduced five times, thus consolidating its status as a masterpiece. Recommendations and interpretations by various literary figures served as evidence. It is important to note that when the plot of Tess was introduced, the focus was on strong vitality, resilience of life, and independent self. Thirdly, Kim Ki-jin’s “Beonlong(「飜弄」)” is the first Korean translation of Tess and a double translation of Nakagi Teiichi’s “A Woman’s Life(「運命の女」)”. Kim Ki-jin demonstrated his uniqueness by experimenting with the Joseon language spoken style. Here, I interpreted A Woman’s Life and “Beonlong” as successive acts of translation. The two novels have something in common: ‘tales of women’s suffering,’ but each embodies the ordeals of different classes. In the case of Tess, a female agricultural worker experienced hardships due to gender and class in a poor environment and grew into an independent self. I revealed that this was an important factor in Kim Ki-jin’s process of selecting translated works. Fourth, I paid attention to the fact that in the process of accepting Tess, it was introduced together with a number of world literatures. The case in which an anthology of world literature was planned through newspaper serialization was a phenomenon that replaced the complete collections of world literature or digest editions of books that had begun to become popular in Japan. The process of disseminating world literature through newspaper serialization shows that the readership of masterpieces in the Joseon language was expanding. Above all, this study has the significance of empirically identifying the process by which a work of world literature was canonized in colonial Joseon by revealing the reception history of Tess.