1950년대 전전(戰前) 세대의 소설에 나타난 전후(戰後) 인식

Post-war perception on the novels of the 1950's Pre-war Generation

The present study investigated post-war perception on the novels of the pre-war generation. The pre-war generation denotes writers who started their literary career in the 1920~1930s and published works steadily until the 1950s. Although they published works during the 1930s, they did more after the 1950s. Nevertheless, their works were neither known well nor appreciated highly in the history of literature of the 1950s. This research purposed to analyze the works of the pre-war generation published during the 1950s and to examine the meanings of the novels of the pre-war generation in the history of literature of the 1950s. There are two remarkable meanings of the novels of the pre-war generation in the history of literature of the 1950s. First, they accepted dominant ideologies in these days and, consequently, deprived readers of the depth of political thought. In his 'Look At The Bird,' Kim Mal-bong describes a war widow whose husband went to North Korea as a criminal who has an evil influence on the society. She is actively involved in anti-Communism in her post-war novels. Anti-Communism ideology appears not only in popular novels but also love stories. In his 'Unlimited Love,' Jeong Bi-seok described anti-Communism as an essence for 'the freedom of love.' The pre-war generation hinders readers from having in-depth speculation on 'freedom.' On the other hand, pre-war generation writers lead post-war restoration from impoverished realities by suggesting traditional order as the moral of their novels. Kim Yi-seok brings 'good persons' into relief in his short stories and realizes Confucian humanism. Such a sentiment arouses nostalgia for their pre-war hometown in war refugees who experienced separation from families and the loss of their hometown. Since he introduced 'the Myth of Cain and Abel' in his 'Cain's Descendants,' Hwang Sun-won looks for an active savior who can restore the post-war life. Wounded soldiers in 'Human Grafting' and students solders appearing in 'Trees Standing On The Slope' make efforts to save not only themselves but also war refugees. This research did not deal with female pre-war generation writers' post-war perception, the post-war perception of pre-war generation writers who went to North Korea and comparison with post-war generation writers. In-depth discussion on the history of literature of the 1950s must be preceded by discussion on the post-war perception of pre-war generation writers who went to North Korea. This will be a theme of future research.