In this paper I tried to characterize 'Guinhoe(Circle of nine)', a literary circle in 1930s, as a group aspired to high art, and to scrutinize the historical significance of its literary activities. Current disagreement over the characterization of Guinhoe is ascribed to the fact that it never manifested the circle's collective beliefs or main principles. Recent attempts to look upon the group in the light of modernist literary movement also pose problems since 'modernism' cannot embrace diverse literary inclinations of its members. When, in the early 1930s, the ideology-leaning literary movement was at the ebb because of Japanese colonizers' suppression, the members of Guinhoe, many of whom were in charge of art and literature section of newspapers, came to hold hegemony in literary world by controlling the media of publication. The KAPF side denounced Guinhoe as a group of escapist technicians, but the members of Guinhoe never responded to KAPF's condemnation. Instead they criticized the nationalist literary movement at the time, and exhibited their intention of building a new kind of literary thought that had nothing to do with ideology but valued beauty of art. Using their power in journalism, they were establishing 'pure literature' in the world of Korean literature, and contributed to reviving then shrinking literature market. <Si wa soseol(Poetry and novel)>, Guinhoe's organ, also proves the circle's non-ideological tendency and openness. No critical essay can be found in the book, but poems by non-members were included. Guinhoe's pursuit of high art make a great contribution to modernization of Korean literature, and had influence on new generation by the publishing <Munjang(Composition)> at the end of colonial period.

In this paper I tried to characterize 'Guinhoe(Circle of nine)', a literary circle in 1930s, as a group aspired to high art, and to scrutinize the historical significance of its literary activities. Current disagreement over the characterization of Guinhoe is ascribed to the fact that it never manifested the circle's collective beliefs or main principles. Recent attempts to look upon the group in the light of modernist literary movement also pose problems since 'modernism' cannot embrace diverse literary inclinations of its members. When, in the early 1930s, the ideology-leaning literary movement was at the ebb because of Japanese colonizers' suppression, the members of Guinhoe, many of whom were in charge of art and literature section of newspapers, came to hold hegemony in literary world by controlling the media of publication. The KAPF side denounced Guinhoe as a group of escapist technicians, but the members of Guinhoe never responded to KAPF's condemnation. Instead they criticized the nationalist literary movement at the time, and exhibited their intention of building a new kind of literary thought that had nothing to do with ideology but valued beauty of art. Using their power in journalism, they were establishing 'pure literature' in the world of Korean literature, and contributed to reviving then shrinking literature market. <Si wa soseol(Poetry and novel)>, Guinhoe's organ, also proves the circle's non-ideological tendency and openness. No critical essay can be found in the book, but poems by non-members were included. Guinhoe's pursuit of high art make a great contribution to modernization of Korean literature, and had influence on new generation by the publishing <Munjang(Composition)> at the end of colonial period.

Guinhoe(Circle of nine), pure literature, modernism, hegemony in literary world, Si wa soseol(Poetry and novel), Munjang(Composition)