Reassessing the Literary-Historical Value of Pak In-hwan’s Modernism

Abstract

Abstract:This article reexamines the literary achievements and historical value of Pak In-hwan’s (1926–1956) modernism from the perspective of cultural studies. In the early twentieth century, Western modernist aesthetics championed intellect while excluding “sentimentalism” on the grounds of it being populist, emotional, and feminine. Similarly, in the history of Korean literature, Pak In-hwan’s work has been undervalued due to being “sentimental.” This study examines modernism as a cultural practice deeply linked to both high art and popular culture. It explores sentimentalism not merely as a sentimental or inferior mode of expression, but as a complex cultural concept where morality, emotion, the public, and gender intersect. Based on this discussion, the study demonstrates that the sentimental characteristics in Pak’s litera-ture do not represent a deficiency in his modernism. Rather, they constitute a unique aesthetic formed through engagement with popular culture within the specific historical realities of liberation and the Korean War. Pak understood popular culture as a new expression of modernity and translated its imagination and sensibilities into language. Pak’s poetic perspective—that poetry should reflect the collective sentiments of its era—led him to focus on popular cultural imagination and themes such as love, community, daily life, and emotion, which were not addressed in conventional modernist poetry. This allowed him to infuse modernism with the power of literary rhetoric found in sentimentalism, including affect, empathy, morality, and compassion. Through this, an innovative modernism emerged in Korean literary history—one that embraced the values of modern daily life, communal sentiments, and popular cultural imagination.