This study examined how christian literature is reflected in our consciousness and has achieved literary modernity through the position Christian literature occupied in modern literary history. It centered on the development and transformational aspec...
This study examined how christian literature is reflected in our consciousness and has achieved literary modernity through the position Christian literature occupied in modern literary history. It centered on the development and transformational aspects of christian literature admitted by the literature of the opening time to western civilization of Korea and realistic adjustment to the development and transformation.
Chapter Ⅱ reviewed the background of Christianity admission and the generation of christianity. Christian literature is based on scriptural Gospel in Christian faith and pursues universal art dealing with the process that when humans agree with God and recover their original being, they come to gain salvation. Christianity and literature are reciprocally complementary while having their independent areas.
Chapter Ⅲ examined the thoughts of christianity through the development and transformation of poems and songs of the opening of Korea. There are twenty seven songs dealing with patriotism and independence published in Dong-lip-shin-mun」, a newspaper. Of these the ones that have christian tendency showed patriotism and independence based on love which is a central idea of christianity as follows: narrations of Creation, christian love and charity, praying and praise to the God, and empowerment of humans to govern the universe.
The Christian songs published in 「Dae-han-mae-il-sin-bo」 imply a will to save the nation that was gradually declining with a help of the God, rather than a representation of serious faith.
Of about forty songs published in 「Gyeong-hyang-sin-mun」, the Christian ones mainly deal with patriotism and enlightenment. And they sing the birth of the Jesus, faithful management of the given task, universal brotherhood and promotion of more serious faith.
The hymns that had a great influence on form of Changga (vocal music) when Christianity was imported contributed a lot to the addition of western music to Korean music. The meters of the Changga were relatively free: rhymed verse of 7 · 5 developed by Yukdang, 8 · 6 which was mainly used in hymns, 7·7, 8·8, 6·6, and 8·7.
The poems written in the early period of Choi Nam-seon are very representative with their conventional meters combined with a slight variation and use of onomatopoeic words. They presented a challenging disposition to inherit independent national consciousness, but in his later period of writing, his intention was not dissolved in the word of poems, being transformed into a conceptual vestiges.
Lee Gwang-soo's works from his early period have a Christian tendency and somewhat succeeded in forming the images of the subjects, but christianity was not consciously deepened in the poems.
Chapter Ⅳ reviewed the ideas of christianity through analysing the development and transformational aspects of the novels written in the flowering time of our country.
First, the 「Mong-jo」 in which soul of an individual is relieved deals with salvation through faith to Jesus and the story is as follow: when two wives, who lost their husbands, were depressed they have a conversation in the form of questions and answers and they open their mind to chnstianity. The「Da-jeong-da-han」 pursues life focusing on a sacrificlal mind and God beyond self-salvation such as revolution against liberal exertion of power, revival of human right, patriotism, and destruction of superstition. In the 「Seong - san - myeong-gyeong」, the hero Shin Cheon-ong became a Christian and then read only the Bible and was engaged in Christian mission work. As a result, he joined the ideas of salvation focusing unity and absolutism of the God through a Christian dialectic based on the Western and Oriental religious principles.
Second, the 「Go-mok-hwa」 which deals with the philanthropy practices of Christian charity and presented the idea of love living in the consciousness of the hero beyond unilateral preaching of christian doctrines. The 「Confession under the Moon 」 deals with self-awakening of the snobbish public servants, and the christian thinking of repentance. It forms the death of the Jesus at the Cross to relieve human beings from punishment, suggesting charity of christianity. The 「Bak-yeon-pok-po」 deals with practice of christian love and forgiveness, not worldly hatred or revenge.
Third, the 「Tears」 is a family story representing Christian repentance. The hero regrets his past sin when listening to the preaching from Mayadaejwa and sheds tears. It is the practice of Christian love through repentance. In the 「Bu-byeok-ru」, the hero repents his sin and come to salvation through experience and confession in spite of adverse fortune and hardship. This work intended to reveal the corruption of the public servants, the evil customs of early marriage and keeping a concubine through the corrupted hero.
Fourth, the 「Story of Go Young-gyu」 describes a relief of happy family. It has an intention to establish a model of modern family, and focuses on steady family life of the couple as christians. It presents a new model of family different from the type of family governed by feudalism. The 「The Standard Model of the Couple」 deals with preciousness of family relation based on christian love and perseverance of the couple who have standard family life based on christianity.
Fifth, the 「Jae-bong-chun」inspired the idea of equality, the main characters reflect christian ideals presenting practical cases of human respect and the idea of equality beyond hierarchical class.
Sixth, the 「Doubt record of the Beast」 criticizes and parodies reality it intends to find a way out of pessimistic society through inspiring protection of national authority and independence in disordered situation of the flowering time, reflecting moral view of christianity And it also reveals corruption of humans in terms of christianity. The 「Gyeong-se-jong」 is a fable that criticizes corruption of humans like 「the Doubt Record of the Beast」 and accommodates the Christian view of the world positively to cure moral problems through Christian doctrine.
This study was to review the literature of Korea's opening to western civilization as a bridge in the progress of classical literature to modern, and an influence of results of studies on songs and novels containing christian ideas on the overall Korean literature.