THE CLARTÉ MOVEMENT IN JAPAN AND KOREA, 1919-1925 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES (JAPANESE) DECEMBER 2017 By Quillon Arkenstone Dissertation Committee: Joel R. Cohn, Chairperson Ken K. Ito Yung-Hee Kim Nobuko M. Ochner Lonny E. Carlile ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express gratitude to the members of my committee, past and present, for their help in the completion of this dissertation: Chairperson Joel Cohn, Ken Ito, Yung-Hee Kim, Nobuko Ochner, Lonny Carlile, and Arthur Thornhill. I would also like to thank the Korea Foundation, the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Hawaii, Tokiko Bazzell, Patricia Polansky, Scott Kramer, Hanae Kurihara Kramer, Suk Lee, Robert Huey, Andre Haag, Evelyn Nakanishi, Lois Agena, Coleen Sekigawa, Audris Wataoka, and my family for their love and support. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Kyoungwon, who stood by me throughout my time in graduate school, and my son Julian, who served (and continues to serve) as a constant reminder that there is more to life than a dissertation. ii ABSTRACT The Clarté movement was an international writers’ association founded in France after the Great War, which had as its goal the rallying of the intellectual elite of the world in order to prevent further war. The movement had branches in countries from Western Europe to East Asia. Scholars have examined the transfer of the movement to and within East Asia, but have not considered the underlying ideological mechanisms that enabled this transfer. This dissertation sets out to identify these mechanisms, referred to collectively throughout as the Clarté problematic. Borrowing Louis Althusser’s concept of the problematic, the study approaches Clarté as a distinct ideological phenomenon, separate from the movements for which it served as support. Chapter One considers the origins of the Clarté movement in Europe, with a discussion of its founder Henri Barbusse, his experiences in the Great War, and his attempts to create an international of intellectuals. Chapter Two turns to Komaki Ōmi, the founder of Tane maku hito, and highlights his association with Barbusse and efforts to link European anti-war movements with those in Japan. Chapter Three centers on the three-year existence of Tane maku hito. The journal’s efforts at social criticism and action are examined, concerns highlighted in its subtitle, hihan to kōdō; both fiction and criticism are considered. Chapter Four discusses the movement in Korea, specifically Kim Ki-jin’s efforts to replicate Tane maku hito with the journal Kaebyŏk. Chapter Five examines how the Clarté movement (and problematic) fell victim to the international conjuncture, being cast as an oppositional ideology before giving way to Marxism- Leninism. iii In addition to the construction of the “Clarté problematic” as a distinct object of study, the dissertation engages a period of intellectual and literary development of leftist literature that has not received as much attention as the later period of proletarian literature proper. Tane maku hito is traditionally placed at the fount of proletarian literature, but this study scrutinizes this assumption of theoretical continuity, arguing that what the journal was attempting to do was to propagate the Clarté movement, not found the new genre for which it is credited. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Introduction: The Clarté Movements ............................................................................................. 1 I. Henri Barbusse and the Origin of the Clarté Movements .............................................. 1 II. The Clarté Problematic .................................................................................................. 4 III. Methods and Terminology ........................................................................................... 7 IIII. Clarté and the Emergence of Proletarian Literature ................................................. 14 V. Previous Scholarship on Clarté ................................................................................... 16 VI. Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter One: The Great War and the Clarté Problematic ........................................................... 19 I. Introduction: The Clarté Movements as Ideological and Political Practice ................. 19 II. Europe, 1919 ............................................................................................................... 19 III. Henri Barbusse ........................................................................................................... 22 IIII. The Clarté Movement ............................................................................................... 28 V. The Clarté Problematic ............................................................................................... 35 VI. The Clarté Movement Internationally ....................................................................... 38 VII. Romain Rolland ........................................................................................................ 41 VIII. The Rolland-Barbusse Debate, 1921-22 ................................................................. 44 VIIII. The End of the Clarté Movement and the Later Activities of Barbusse ................ 49 X. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter Two: Komaki Ōmi and the Clarté Movement ................................................................ 54 I. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 54 II. Komaki Ōmi ................................................................................................................ 56 III. Mushanokōji Saneatsu’s Aru seinen no yume ............................................................ 63 IIII. Fall 1919: Meeting Barbusse .................................................................................... 71 V. Komaki’s Visit to Switzerland .................................................................................... 74 VI. Legacy ........................................................................................................................ 76 Chapter Three: Clarté in Japan .................................................................................................... 80 I. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 80 II. 1920: Laying the Groundwork .................................................................................... 83 III. 1921: Debut of Tane maku hito ................................................................................. 86 IIII. Ana-Boru Ronsō: The Rolland-Barbusse Debate in Japan ....................................... 94 V. The Japanese Interpretation of the Debate ................................................................ 104 VI. Komaki’s Understanding of Barbusse ..................................................................... 107 VII. The Clarté Problematic in Literature: Asō Hisashi’s “Shitai no hakkutsu,” Kaneko Yōbun’s “Sake” ................................................................................................. 111 v VIII. The Publication of Kurarute ................................................................................. 123 VIIII. The End of Tane maku hito ................................................................................. 128 X. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 134 Chapter Four: Clarté in Korea .................................................................................................... 138 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 138 II. Korean Literature 1894-1920 .................................................................................... 139 III. Kim Ki-jin ................................................................................................................ 143 IIII. Ideological Practice: Clarté-related Articles in the Journal Kaebyŏk ..................... 144 V. Kim’s Understanding of Barbusse ............................................................................ 157 VI. Clarté and the Korean Communist Parties ............................................................... 160 VII. The Clarté Problematic in Literature: Kim Ki-jin’s “Pulgŭn chwi” ...................... 162 VIII. Further Activities .................................................................................................. 170 Chapter Five: From Clarté to “Proletarian Literature” .............................................................. 172 I. Introduction ...............................................................................................................