Modernity Contextual "Youth Discourse"

This study considers the "youth" as main agent of modernization and the "youth discourse" related to the concept in China and Korea, from1900s to1920, and compared and analyzed the image of ’youth’ presented in modern novels of China and Korea.This study consists of four main parts. First, the study compared and analyzed the social institutional conditions which enabled people to form the youth class as well as the modern nation statehood, which was the origin of youth discourse in China and Korea in1900s. In1900s, Liangqichao’s "Young China" and Cuinanshan’s "The New Korean Boy" illustrate youth as the new agent of a nation under the ruination of their countries. However, due to the historical difference between China and Korea, Liangqichao put an importance on "Youth" as the agent of a modern nation, while Cuinanshan did as the agent of nationality. This is because Joseon became colonized by Japan in1910.Secondly, the study compared and analyzed how the concepts of "individual" and "science", which are the core of modernization in1910, were combined with youth discourse in China and Korea. Most of all, the study analyzed the ((New Youth(新�'年)》, the Chinese typical magazine in1910s, and 《Hakjigwang(学之光); The Light of Learning》, which was published by the Association of Joseon Students in Japan, to analyze the point where the individual discourse as youth discourse was connected to "self-development" and "self-discipline."Thirdly, the study contemplated the process of formation of Korean-Chinese scientific discourse which played an important role for the "youth", the main agent of modernization, to form a new world different from the tradition. Lastly, China and Korea have entered the mass society since1920s. As a part of the new culture, the modern literature became the communicational media and the object for enjoyment of youth. Therefore, the study considered the meaning of ’syndrome’ which happened in the early1920s and of youth presented in Yu Da-fu and Lianxiangshe’s text. The youth presented in the two novels denied the image of youth formed in1910s, suggesting another kind of image for youth.The socialism movement which had begun in early1920s had great influence on the formation of "radical youth". The "radical youth" means the youth who has accepted the ideology of socialism and has criticism on the modern society and the reality of his own country. With the ideology and movement of socialism rising, socialism tendency literature and proletarian literature have increased in the field of Chinese and Korean modern literature. The socialism and proletarian literature formed an image of "radical youth" as another image of "youth". In conclusion, this study searched for the meaning of "radical youth" in1920with the texts, Maodun’s 《Disillusion》 and Lijiyong’s ((The poor))...