A Study On Nanjing Narrative In Korean Modern Literature(1919-1945)

This paper provides an overview and information about Korean modern literatures which narrated Nanjing and were written by Korean writers,including poems,essays,stories,dramas published by Korean modern media.It mainly focuses on the literary cognition of Korean writers on historical tradition and the modern transition of Nanjing.It also systematically analyzes the differences of Nanjing’s image in Korean literature before and after the full-scale outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937.The purpose of this paper is to correctly explain the contradiction and complexity of the Korean writer’s cognition on the background of Japanese colonial history,and to revisit the Chinese image and its significance in Korean modern literature.In existing research,scholars already made many studies on the image of China or Chinese people in Korean modern literature.Most of the studies are overall reviews on China’s image,while some regional and metropolitan images are limited to Northeast China,Shanghai and Beijing.Therefore,the research on images of Nanjing is an important complement to the studies on China’s image.On the one hand,it will help to expand the research field.On the other hand,by explaining the reconstruction of Korean national identity under the Japanese colonial rule from the ideological point of view,we can understand the relationship between Koreans’ cognition about China and their inner identity construction from the framework of modernity.First of all,the view on Nanjing can be divided into traditional culture space and modern civilization area.For the traditional culture space of Nanjing,on the one hand,Korean writers expressed their expressions of homesick by visiting historical sites.On the other hand,the emotions attached to the decline of the Chinese empire by Korean writers,expressed their longing for traditional oriental civilization.Therefore,Nanjing was regarded as a utopia that can made them temporarily escape from the reality that Korea was colonized by Japan.As for the modern civilization area of Nanjing,ubiquitous construction projects reflected a new view of the city.As for that,Korean writers also had two different attitudes.One was a supportive attitude which regarded it as the new beginning of China’s glory.The other was a doubtful attitude which didn’t believe in the new national government and Chinese people’s nature.Whether they’re praising or belittling,both attitudes all showed their desire for modern civilization.Secondly,this paper divides the writings of Nanjing in modem Korean literatxure into two stages,before and after the Anti-Japanese War,to examine the cognition of Nanjing.Before the war in 1937,Nanjing was the symbol and political window of China because of its capital status.For this reason,Korean writers could understand China through Nanjing.It was also an opportunity for Korean people,who were under the Japanese colonial rule,to observe the modernization of an independent nation.However,after being occupied by Japan,’new capital’ Nanjing was destroyed.Apuppet regime mastered by Wang Jingwei was set up here with the assistance of Japan.During this period,Korean writers were influenced more by the ideology of Japanese colonial rule.Though the city was severely damaged after the war,the reconstruction work done by Japanese was praised by Korean writers.They described Nanjing as a city which was full of vitality.Though they criticized or praised Nanjing during two periods,both these were expressions of their potential ideology with the ultimate goal being to confirm their own value through Nanjing.In a word,Nanjing narrative made by Korean writers was embodied in the two aspects of historical imagination and criticism of reality.It showed a complex and contradictory diversity of cognition,which was also a microcosm of the complex situation of East Asia at that time.From the history and reality,Korean people also acquired self-cognition.