A Study on Korean Liberalism Apeared in The Night with Cold Stars by Lee Byung-ju During the Late Japanese Imperialism

Abstract

In this thesis the limit of Korean liberalism has been discussed focusing on the main character, Park Dal-se, in Lee Byung-joo’s last novel, This thesis tries to show the aspects of western liberalism through the novels of Lee Byung-ju when it was introduced and accepted in Korea during the late Japanese imperialism. Unlike the western world Korea was forced to accept the only individual private liberalism not the public liberalism based on the community. However, in the late Japanese imperialism this kind of liberalism had to be throughly destroyed by its military fascism. The Night with Cold Stars. Park Dal-se is the main character and a symbol of decline of Korean liberalism. As a servant he appreciated the Japanese propaganda of status ascent and tried to help Japanese work. When he met Yang Choon-ho in Japan and was asked to tell his identity, he didn’t give up his private freedom as he had already internalized the gray liberalism in his mind. As he couldn’t arrive at the public freedom of restoring national sovereignty, Received (December 4, 2015), Review Result(December 18, 2015) Accepted(December 28, 2015), Published(February 29, 2016) 100-100 Division of General Studies, Sahmyook University., Hwarango 815, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Korea email: sangoma@syu.ac.kr A Study on Korean Liberalism Apeared in The Night with Cold Stars by Lee Byung-ju During the Late Japanese Imperialism Copyright c 2016 HSST 422 his life of addiction to opium and thus getting lost suggests the limit of the late japanese liberalism that he could neither accept nor resist the Japanese Imperialism.