This study looks at romantic art view(romanticism) of Kim Soo-young, a Korean poet, and his nation in his poetry in a diachronic perspective. The below is the summary of the result.
As the driver of Romanticism was the failed French Revolution (or Re...
This study looks at romantic art view(romanticism) of Kim Soo-young, a Korean poet, and his nation in his poetry in a diachronic perspective. The below is the summary of the result.
As the driver of Romanticism was the failed French Revolution (or Reason in the age of Enlightenment,) what led Kim Soo-young to Romanticism in the 1950s was hatred against socialist North Korea, state violence (his experiences with the Korean War and prison camps), and his wife's breakup (they got back together after the War). Because of a series of these events, Kim lived a simple life in Seongbuk-gu and Mapo-gu, the outskirts of Seoul. He despised the city which went through state-led post-war restoration projects and repeated inner-self revealing and self-soothing. Interestingly, his physical move from the downtown (state = capital) to the outskirts was in line with his move of the poetry theme from certain subjects to inner side.
However, he focused on external side after he witnessed the April Revolution. He felt sympathy and empathy for students who sacrificed in the crackdown and had 'companionship (love)' which is an emotional turning point to form a national consciousness. This love gives an important signal to interpret his poetry written in the 1960s. For example, his poem, Variations on the Theme of Love in 1967 showed utopian (revolutionary) love, meaning as he witnessed the April Revolution in the 1960s, he found a feeling of love as an alternative to the reality. If that is true, then he put focus on inner side in the 1950s, because he could not find the alternative. He lived such a simple life far away from the reality of state-led industrialization he does not want to face without finding any alternative.
Looking at the Modes of Exchange of Kojin Karatani, interestingly, people and the rural community are communities based on his 'reciprocation'. In the modern era, capitalism has expanded and the rural community has collapsed or reduced. And this rural community was restored imaginarily. This 'imaginary community' is people. Unlike the rural community, people is imaginary community. However, people being imaginary community is reciprocation of exchanging gift and counter-gift. Given that this exchange is related with a feeling of love, Romantic poets found people as the alternative. Considering the Modes of Exchange of Kojin Karatani, Kim Soo-young's poetry in both periods of the 1950s and 1960s is explained in a consistent manner.
Like Kim Soo-young in the 1950s, Kim Soo-young in the 1960s did not do political actions or remarks pro-actively which should be paid attention. Rather, he repeatedly reproached himself for doing not political actions or remarks. What's hidden by this self-depreciation is his excessive self-consciousness that excludes others. He could not stand with his reduced self-consciousness he had to face in the reality. That is why he stayed in the imaginary and ideal world and was immersed in imagining his own utopia. In this sense, his self-depreciation can be seen as just 'gesture' he hated, because his self-depreciation did not cause any changes in his action.
As a result of this research, the April Revolution was the main cause behind Kim Soo-young's change as seen in prior studies, but Kim is basically Romantic in the 1950s and 1960s. In other words, his changes in the 1960s were possible because he had Romantic tendencies. This gives a signal that can consistently solve various questions as mentioned before. He is 'political Romantic Poet' who focused on inner struggles rather than real-life struggles.