최남선과 바이런: 『소년』에 출판된 바이런의 시들

Abstract

This study examines Ch’oe Namsŏn’s use of Byron’s works in Sonyeon (『少年』)—Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto the forth and The Corsair. Particularly focusing on the reception history—how he came to know Byron’s works and what sources he used to compose an adaptation poem, “From the Ocean to the Boys”(「海에게서 少年에게」) and to translate “Byron’s Haejeokga”(「빠이론의 海賊歌」) and “Daeyang”(「大洋」) into Korean, this study also articulates Korean intellectual’s exposure to the Japanese literary history in which Byron was in vogue in the early twentieth century. So far, scholars have only paid passing attention to the importance of Ch’oe’s use of Byron’s works, although they are essential parts of his enlightenment literature depending heavily upon the translation of Western literature. The ocean image in Byron’s works that Ch’oe borrowed to use even as an opening poem of the first volume of the magazine affects other works in the series of Sonyeon as a pivotal symbol that Korean boys should learn from and challenge against to become a reliable future generation for the nation’s freedom and independence. With Ch’oe’s initial introduction of Byron’s works with other western literary works highlighting adventure and challenge to Korean boys, he contributed to pave a way for Korean intellectuals eventually to long for the freedom of the nation in foreign literature in the following decades.