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197 CHAPTER 11 Kim Tongni Introduction and Translation by Chiyoung Kim Introduction Kim Tongni (1913–1995), the author of “The True Meaning of Pure Literature ” and “A Personal Opinion on Writing Literature,” is among the best known of Korean fiction writers. With such widely read works as “The Shaman Painting” (Munyŏdo, 1936), “Legend of Yellow Earth” (Hwangt’ogi, 1939), and “Post-Horse Curse” (Yŏngma, 1948), he created a unique world of mysticism and folklore by drawing on the native traditions of Korea. At a time when the Korean literary world was split between modernist and realist tendencies, these works opened a new realm of literature distinct from both. Kim Tongni was born in Kyŏngju, a region particularly rich in traditional legends, folktales, and Silla history. The ancient character of his native place may have contributed to the distinctive incorporation of traditional elements in his work. Unlike many other Korean intellectuals of the period, Kim did not go abroad to Japan to study but conducted his studies in rural Korea under the great influence of his oldest brother, Pŏmbu, a famous Confucian scholar. During this period of study, Kim became a close associate of Sŏ Chŏngju’s1 and explored many of the themes that held Sŏ’s interest as well, such as Buddhism and the aesthetics of Korean folk life. He made his literary debut in 1935 when his short story “A Descendent of the Hwarang”2 (Hwarang ŭi huye) won the spring literary contest held by the Central Daily (Chungang ilbo). The following year, “Mountain Fire” (Sanhwa) won the spring literary contest sponsored by the East Asia Daily (Tonga ilbo), and, with subsequent works that employ mysticism, such as “The Shaman Painting” (Munyŏdo) and “The Rock” (Bawi, 1936), he secured his reputation as a young writer of great promise. From this point until his death in 1995, Kim Tongni led a long and illustrious life of letters.3 198 Imperatives of Culture Although his literary criticism is overshadowed by the brilliance of his fiction, Kim Tongni was one of the leading critics of his day and an active contributor to many important literary debates. In particular, he played a pivotal role in the “generational controversy” (sedae nonjaeng)4 of the late 1930s and in the “Left-Right controversy” (chwau nonjaeng)5 of the years immediately following Korea’s emancipation from Japanese colonial rule (1945–1948). From the post-liberation era, he headed a right-wing literary circle known as the Association of Young Writers (Chŏngnyŏn Munhakka Hyŏphoe) that later evolved into the Association of Korean Writers (Hanguk Munhakka Hyŏphoe), the group that secured a dominant position in the South Korean literary world. Two key concepts recur in Kim Tongni’s literary criticism: “pure literature ” and “literature as a form of life that aspires to the ultimate.” In “The True Meaning of Pure Literature,” Kim Tongni outlines his thesis of the former concept as one intimately linked to the historical integration of humanism and nationalism. In “A Personal Opinion on Writing Literature,” he develops the latter concept, a phrase that encodes his literary philosophy. Together, these two articles encapsulate Kim Tongni’s distinctive theory of literature. Although written in the post-liberation era, they reveal the ideas that guided a new literary trend initiated by young authors and poets like Kim Tongni and Sŏ Chŏngju in the late 1930s, a trend that emphasized traditional Korean folk life and its lyricism. Kim Tongni first introduced his idea of pure literature as a “literature that defends humanity” during the generational controversy of the late 1930s. In the course of this controversy, he emphasized the importance of the distinct individuality and personal experiences of the writer in achieving literary expression. His position took issue with the older generation’s conviction that literature should reflect society and strive toward the reformation of historical reality. He continued to expand on the notion of pure literature in the turbulent post-liberation era by opposing it to propagandistic Marxist literature. “The True Meaning of Pure Literature ” was thus an attempt to offer a scholarly basis for pure literature through investigations of humanism and nationalism: Kim settled on the now-famous concept of “humanism of the third stage” as the theoretical justification for pure literature. To put it simply, third-stage humanism was humanism without what Kim Tongni perceived to be the negative aspects of rationalism. In that an overly zealous commitment to logic and science was linked...

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