일제말기 일본어문학의 재정립과 임순득의 (재)발견, 그리고 또 다시보기: - 「대모」(名付親, 1942)를 중심으로 = A Study on the Japanese as Depicted in the Literature of Joseon Korean in the Last Period of Japanese Imperialism: Im Sun-Deuk and “A Godmother” (“Nazukeoya,” 1942)

Since the beginning of the new millennium, literary critics have tried to view Japanese literature in its Korean colony as a dual-language literature, not pro-Japanese. Im Sun-Deuk is one of the writers focused on in that process. Among her works, “A Godmother” is especially notable. Most preceding studies analyzed the writer Im Sun-Deuk as expressing national liberation and women’s liberation under the domination of the Japanese Empire. These studies have important meaning for those who tore off the “pro-Japan” label that had been pasted without reservation on the authors of works in the period of Japan’s violent occupation, especially on authors who wrote in the Japanese language. Such labeling missed the way that these studies applied a dichotomous frame of cooperation/resistance to the writers or works from the period of the violent Japanese occupation. But the issue boils down to this. The one-sided view established toward Im Sun-Deuk and the fallacy of applying it so translations were continued steadily in every aspect. There are many reasons that studies must continue on the question of her supposed anti-nationalism and the question of whether or not to include her and her works in the identity of the Korean nation and finally to re-evaluate the contradictory situation and the dual attitude and resolve it.