Korea has ceaselessly had the fetters of politics even since the rule of Japanese imperialism. With the problems modem Korean literature has dealt and has never entirely freed itself from 'violence' and 'madness'. Violence and madness in the literatur...
Korea has ceaselessly had the fetters of politics even since the rule of Japanese imperialism. With the problems modem Korean literature has dealt and has never entirely freed itself from 'violence' and 'madness'. Violence and madness in the literature have been represented variously in quality and quantity according to the times, and in volume and weight according to authors. But those two topics have been Something unavoidable to authors.
This paper deals with four poets in the fourth and fifth republic times, one of the turbulent times in modem Korean history. Supposing that violence and madness have close connection with politics, the works of four poets, Kim Namju, Bak Namcheol, Bak Nohae, and Kim Yeongseung, are suited to the discussion of those two topics.
Kim Namju and Bak Nohae criticized intensively the wrong politics and history, and wrote many poems filled with madness. Bak Namcheol chose, as the subject matter of his poems, the violence which an individual caused to another individual. On the other hand, Kim Yeongseung pursued sexuality concentratedly but because he went beyond the appropriate extent, his poems failed to attain a stage of satire and remained as a low-grade obscenity.