THE MODERNITY OF KOREAN LITERATURE IN THE 1930S AND THE LUDIC NARRATIVE POETICS

초록

The purpose of this article is to reread modem Korean novels of the 1930s in their ludic dimensions. Korean literature of the latter half of the 1930s poses a specific problem since it was during this period that Japanese literary censorship functioned not only as a negative exclusion but also as a positive cultural force. Many writers thus experimented with different writing styles and introduced them into Korean letters. Kim Yu-jeong and Yi Sang were representative unique writers endowed with special writing skills. Kim Yu-jeong wrote combining traditional Korean emotions with humorous style, whereas Yi Sang utilized European avant-garde elements with exotic and aestheticized emotions. The play of literature turns into linguistic ludism in their texts. It is argued that since the realities of the 1930s were unbearable to many modem Korean writers, they tried to cope with colonial reality by means of literary ludism. In this article, we will look into Kim Yu-jeong's Camellias as an instance of social ludism and Yi Sang's The Wings as a case of psychological ludism, these being their most famous works, respectively. [GRAPHICS] .