• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.44
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• pp.87-121
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• 2016

Daehoon Ham's novel 'Cheongchunbo' features a studier as the main character who majored in Russian literature and admired the culture of the Soviet Union. From his viewpoint, the novel reproduces North Korean society before and after its independence from Japan. In this regard, it shows multilayered presence related to Russian culture and Soviet Russia. Such an aspect is based on the sense of sympathy that the main character has. The sense of sympathy is originated from the main character's admiration for the exoticism of Soviet culture which was forbidden during the late Japanese occupation. After Korea's independence from Japan, Russian was replaced by English. Such change also occurred in the main character's viewpoint. He underwent a change in his integrative viewpoint on Russian and Soviet under the name of Red Army. After defecting to South Korea, he began to put Russia down as a den possessed by the devil called 'communism.' In the meantime, Russia and Soviet have been separated from each other in ideological terms. The novel 'Cheongchunbo' stresses that the decisive cause of such changes is argued over trusteeship. The main character, fascinated by the presence of exotic Soviet, predicates that Soviet is a political symbol around the national division caused by the trusteeship. His change alluded to the life path of Korean authors who translated Russian literature after independence. During the Japanese occupation, Russian literature translated into Korea was a longing for forbiddance and admiration for Russia. However, the Russia presented in Daehoon Ham's novel before and after independence implies that the romantic translation has ended.