This paper is focused on interpreting the antithetic attitude shown by colonial Korean intellectuals in second-hand translation from Japanese translation - according to whether to be the modern thought or to be literature. The implication in this phenomenon will be analyzed through instances of The Genesis, a prominent Korean journal of colonial age.
In The Genesis, the fact that European literature of Korean translation was a second-hand one(retranslation) from Japanese version of European original was completely ignored and hidden, while it was recognized - in thoughts and ideologies - to be a second-hand translation via Japanese intermediate and to refer to its originality. This intention to suggest as if Korean version of literary pieces were a first-hand translation of European original seems to be a unique result created by the particular establishing process of modern subject in colonial Korea. In other words, literature had a special status representing the modernity under the situation prohibited to argue modern thoughts and ideologies that could probably lead to reality criticism in colonial Korea.
Therefore, a concept was needed to give an impression as if the literature translated into Korean language were a fruit of direct communication with Western Europe, without Japanese intermediate. It was because, without conscious denial of the retranslation process via Japanese language, it might be impossible to realize Korean modern identity, a modernization led by literature.
Meanwhile, this psychological tendency to deny being retranslation via Japanese translation caused a condition to make the two types of literary translation different things respectively - Korean version and Japanese version. If it were specified on the Korean edition to be a second-hand translation of Japanese version, the drop in value as literary commodities might have been unavoidable, due to being regarded just as an imitator of Japanese translation. The status deterioration of literature in Korean language was a serious issue that could be never accepted for the Korean publishing market which depended mainly on literary pieces.
It is presumed, this deep psychology under such circumstances was the very reason why the fact - being a retranslation from Japanese version of European literature - should have been concealed.