식민지시기 한국문학은 ‘쓴 것’이 아니라 ‘쓸 수 있었던 것’으로 인식해야 한다. 검열을 통과하지 않고서는 어떤 작품도 발표할 수 없었기 때문이다. 이런 인식 아래 한국문학을 연구하고자 할 때 현재의 연구경향에 어떤 문제가 발생하며 어떻게 해결해 나갈 지를 검토하는 것이 이 글의 목적이다. 첫째, 다양한 板本들을 비교하여 ‘쓰고자했던 것’에 좀더 가까운 次善本 확정작업이 필요하다. 한국현대문학연구에서 전반적으로 충실치 못한 부문이지만, 검열의 요인을 염두에 둔다면 더욱 시급한 과제이다. 둘째, 학제적 연구가 필요하다. 언론학 사회학 법학 등과의 학제적 연구는 물론이고, 한국어문학 내부의 3개 세부전공(국어학, 고전문학, 현대문학)의 벽을 넘어서 협동연구를 진행해야 한다. 검열기준의 다양한 금지어들은 국어학과의 협동연구를 통해, 그리고 검열을 우회하기 위해 작가들이 동원했던 다양한 상호텍스트성(주로 고전작품을 활용한)에 대해서는 고전문학과의 협동연구를 통해 해결해야 하는 것이다. 최근 인접학문과의 학제적 작업은 활성화되고 있는데 비해 막상 국어국문학 내부 세부전공 간의 협동연구는 부진한 상황이어서 아쉽다.

Korean literature during the Japanese occupation was perceived as not ‘things that are written' but ‘things that could be written'. This is due to the fact that no piece of literature could be published without passing the censorship. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to examine new cognitive levels that could be captured when studying Korean literature and the issues involved with the trends in today's researches as well as resolving them. Above all, it is important to stay away from regarding literature as text when studying literature. In other words, we need to compare ‘what couldn't be written' (censorship standards) with ‘what could be written' (existing text) in improving the understanding of ‘what was intended to write'. This will reveal the fact that a writer's fear of the censorship did not only affect his choice of words or phrases but also the underlying structure of his literature including stage settings, plots, characters, and whatnot. Research targets and research methodologies need to be changed in order to study literature censorships. First, we need to compare different original copies to determine research target that are closer to ‘what was intended to write'. While this idea may not have been practiced widely in the studies on modern Korean literature, it is an urgent task given the censorship factors. Second, interdisciplinary studies are required. This includes interdisciplinary studies across journalism, sociology, and law as well as collaborative studies that overcome the barriers among the three majors (Korean language, classic literature, modern literature) within Korean Literature. Words that were banned as per the censorship standard and the various intertextuality(mostly leveraging classic literature) that writers used to bypass the censorship need to be resolved through joint studies by the Korean language department and classic literature, respectively.

Korean literature during the Japanese occupation was perceived as not ‘things that are written' but ‘things that could be written'. This is due to the fact that no piece of literature could be published without passing the censorship. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to examine new cognitive levels that could be captured when studying Korean literature and the issues involved with the trends in today's researches as well as resolving them. Above all, it is important to stay away from regarding literature as text when studying literature. In other words, we need to compare ‘what couldn't be written' (censorship standards) with ‘what could be written' (existing text) in improving the understanding of ‘what was intended to write'. This will reveal the fact that a writer's fear of the censorship did not only affect his choice of words or phrases but also the underlying structure of his literature including stage settings, plots, characters, and whatnot. Research targets and research methodologies need to be changed in order to study literature censorships. First, we need to compare different original copies to determine research target that are closer to ‘what was intended to write'. While this idea may not have been practiced widely in the studies on modern Korean literature, it is an urgent task given the censorship factors. Second, interdisciplinary studies are required. This includes interdisciplinary studies across journalism, sociology, and law as well as collaborative studies that overcome the barriers among the three majors (Korean language, classic literature, modern literature) within Korean Literature. Words that were banned as per the censorship standard and the various intertextuality(mostly leveraging classic literature) that writers used to bypass the censorship need to be resolved through joint studies by the Korean language department and classic literature, respectively.

Korean literature in Japanese colonial period, Censorship, Interdisciplinary study, Comparison of texts