경찰 기록으로 본 『금수회의록』 텍스트의 생산 과정

Abstract

This paper examines Ahn Kuksŏn’s 安國善 Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok 禽獸會議錄(The Congress of Animals, 1908) focusing on its text production and publication process based on newly found police reports, which contain his statement written in 1908, the year he was arrested. This statement tells his personal history, the process of creation, and his response to questioning from police. Three important points can be gleaned from his statement : First, he studied at Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō 東京專門學校(formally renamed Waseda University 早稲田大學 in 1902), founded by Ōkuma Shigenobu 大隈重信, the leader of Rikken Kaishintō 立憲開進黨, which advocated Jiyū Minken Undō 自由民權運 動(Free Civil Rights Movement). We discover that Ahn might be connected to Satō Kuratarō 佐藤欌太郞, the writer of Kinjūkaigi Jinruikōgeki 禽獸會議人類攻擊(The Animals’ Meeting for Attack on Human Beings, 1904) which seems to be the original text of Ahn’s novel. This was mediated by both the Meiji political novel and the politics of Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō, as Satō was deeply influenced by Yano Ryūkei 矢野龍溪, a representative writer of Japanese political novels and also the main member of Rikken Kaishintō. Second, he converted to Christianity when he was in prison awaiting judgment right after his return from Japan. This provides a key clue as to why he chose to translate Kinjūkaigi Jinruikōgeki instead of Jinruikōgeki Kinjūkokkai 人類攻擊禽獸國會(The Animals’ Congress for Attack on Human Beings, 1885), which was once suggested as being the original text of Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok. Contrary to Tajima Shōji 田島象仁, who criticized Christianity in his novel Jinruikōgeki Kinjūkokkai, Satō was open to Eastern and Western thought, and so he included Christianity in his novel even though he was raised in the Confucian tradition. Third, Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok was translated and adapted while he was devoting himself to translation, working as a translator for Bosŏngkwan 普成館 Publishers. It took several years from translation to publication. From this fact, we can guess that Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok combined various and heterogeneous texts written in different periods, although it was grounded on one original text. In addition, Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok was formed partially by inserting various political comments and speeches written while he was in exile, and also by retaining traditional narrative plot and rhetoric while he was translating Kinjūkaigi Jinruikōgeki. In this light, Kŭmsu Hoeŭirok can therefore be a hybrid text born through the complex translingual process which ranges from the original translation from a Japanese text to its Chinese-Korean mixed adaptation and to the final revision in Korean.