This dissertation is about "the argument about national specificity" in North Korean literature from the 1950s to the 1960s. I summarized and gave an order to criticism in North Korean literature of the days and inspected how their "argument about national specificity" was given a shape by closely reading the representative literary works of the period. The points of this dissertation are as below.
In chapter 2, I illustrated the fact that the group of power in North Korea utilized "Korean tradition" as a political strategy and their affection was exposed in the shape of "the argument about national specificity" in literary field. "The argument about national specificity" emerged out of the socio-political intention to grasp the political power and to maintain the national mobilization system in North Korea. This chapter was also about the relationship between the argument about tradition and the argument about national specificity in North Korean literature. To figure out the relationship, I searched the concept of the "subject," which started to be used in the middle of the 1950s and still widely prevailed not only in North Korean literature but also in the North Korean regime in general. Especially, I closely searched the meaning that the "subject" has in the argument of national specificity. The concept of the "subject" in North Korea meant, most of all, independence of a subject from an outer political power. At the same time, the "subject" was also the concept implying the tradition and the nation. The third concern of this chapter was the project to success national heritage. At this point, "Chun'hyng-cho＾n", the well-known Korean literary heritage, was highly focused. Critics of the period explained the esthetics of diverse appropriations of national language and the argument of national characteristics which were the key point of the argument of national specificity by analyzing the characters of "Chun'hyang-cho＾n"
Chapter 3 was about the development of the "argument about national characteristics," which was the core point of the "argument about the national specificity." The actual application of the argument was revealed in the novels "The Brothers(Hyo＾ngje)" and "A Turn(Cho＾nhwan)." The positive characteristics of a fictional character, which were presented diversely by the critics, were abstracted from classical literary works and the historical experiences of the revolution against the Japanese Imperialism. In the early time of North Korean literature, the KAPF tradition was given an attention and developed, especially centering the works of Lee Ki-young, and was called the "two main traditions" along with the tradition of the revolution against the Japanese Imperialism. However, in the field of the argument of national specificity, only the tradition of the revolution against the Japanese Imperialism was highly stressed.
In chapter 3-3, I examined the concept of a lyrical protagonist who would be the national character of a lyric and its realization by reading such works as "The Nation Of Cho＾nrima"(cho＾nrima-nara) and "A Hymn For The Youth" (Cho＾ngchunsong'ga). Those lyrics were not different from novels in that they contrived out positive protagonists and aspired to revolutionary idea and ideology of socialism.
In chapter 4, I classified literary forms created to give a shape to the ideology of socialism. The analytical points to classify the forms were such factors as consciousness for a rhythm and a national language, rhetoric, a description and a structure. Discussions on a rhythm converged into such elements as meter group, the rhythm of 3 to 3 and of 4 to 4. Conditions for modern inheritance of a traditional rhythm were usefulness for injecting ideology and a taste for the mass. Therefore, the rhythm of 3 to 3 was considered to be more preferable than the rhythm of 4 to 4 in that it was appropriate for reflecting the speed of modern period and for an application to a revolutionary verse. I illustrated the aspects of the application in chapter 4-1.
Chapter 4-2 was about consciousness for the national language. Critics indicated that "Takmul-u'u＾i", an allegorical expression which figured an emotion as a thing, might be the most specific aspect of Korean language. "Takmul-u'u＾i" was an important traditional element which was quite similar with "U'o＾n"(an indirect expression) in South Korea. Such lively expressions of the national language which greatly utilized a proverb, a metaphor, and a figurative expression were highly valued as a tradition elevating "Inminso＾ng"(volkstumlichke´it, popularity)
Chapter 4-3 was about the biographical constitution of a prose and the description of such things as nature, a people, and a social condition. The description of nature, a people and a social condition was considered as a national specificity in that it was considered to have the effect to rouse up the national emotion. In fact, the description was regarded as to be related with the national specificity of general culture of North Korea. The biographical constitution of a prose adapting happy ending was proposed as a traditional constitution of a prose. This was the model of a traditional constitution applicable for any North Korean prose indulging in figuring out the hero of the revolution against the Japanese Imperialism and the chief of the North Korean regime.
According to the above, I could have the conclusion that the argument about the national specificity was the important discussion which was converging diverse literary theories of the earlier period and transported them into "Juche'munye-i'ron," a literary theory of the subject. In addition, I hoped that my study could contribute to prove the possibility for North Korean criticism from the 1950s to 1960s to be included in the realm of a "national literature" of the same people speaking the same language in terms of the wide meaning of an argument about tradition, whereas the argument about the national specificity also has the possibility to be considered as an invented tradition, as E. Hobsbawm said, which collaborated in maintaining the political power of the North Korean regime. Although the argument about tradition in North Korea has some problem in its birth and in its ideology-centric limits, the result of the discussion about a literary theme and form in it could be a good standard for a comparison with South Korean literature.
This dissertation started to contribute for finding a way to discuss the united "national literature" of North and South Korea. Since tradition, in North Korea, was selected and utilized in the perspective of a political project, such standards as the "nation", the "subject", and a "literary form" for the argument of tradition in North Korean literature could not be applicable for South Korean literature. However, after the Korean liberation and Korean war, the situation of South Korea has not been different from that of North Korea in terms of socio-political environment as national division and contraposition and of a international situation as the confrontation between internationalism and nationalism. Whereas, the phase and the development of literature of North Korea were quite different from that of South Korea which was under the realm of Korean specific democratism. I believe the argument of "national literature" can be started at the point how different and how similar the two of literature is are discussed.
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