Issue Matters of Maesinsajinsunbo(每新寫眞旬報) and Newly Discovered Japanese Novel of Lee Seokhun
Authors:   The Modern Bibiography Review Society, Shin Mi-Sam 
Published: August 2022

The purpose of this paper is to bibliographically introduce ｢Man Possessed by GoldMine(金山に憑れた男)｣, a Japanese novel of Lee Seokhun(李石薰, 1907~1950?), which is newly discovered from Maesinsajinsunbo(每新寫眞旬 報). It is the first discovery and the date of publication is not known. This paper developed the issue matter table of Maesinsajinsunbo(每新寫眞旬報), which can be now verified, before the bibliographical introduction. It could be found that it is possible to verify up to Maesinsajinsunbo(每新寫眞旬報) No.378(issued in Jan., 01, 1945) and a large numbers of works created by authors from Joseon, which have not been reported to the academic circles.
Lee Seokhun is found to has a relation with Maeilsinbosa at early age, which issued Maesinsajinsunbo(每新寫眞旬報). In Gwangwon-do where he enjoyed newly-married life, he worked not only as a correspondence clerk in Osakamaeilsinmun and a correspondent in the Chuncheon branch of Gyeongseongilbo, which have been already known, but also as a reporter in both the Gwangwon branch and the Chuncheon branch of Maeilsinbo.
Although Lee Seokun was recognized as one of influential men in Chucheon, due to his status as a reporter, he was very poor. The contemporary life as a newspaper report made him have two ambivalent feelings of the ambition for report and languor. He, however, resigned as the reporter and emigrated to Seoul, after he disillusioned with the stress caused by coverage competition, his own mistakes due to hasty reporting without adequate investigation into facts and newspaper reports’ mission to propagate the projects initiated by Gangwon-do.
The chapter 4 briefly examined the Seoul life of Lee Seokhun, to understand his inner mind when he wrote the ｢Man Possessed by GoldMine｣.
The findings show that he precariously maintained both statuses of a literary man and a worker. Then, Lee Seokhun selected the former, but the works published by him could not attract strong attention. Moreover, Joseonilbo and Dongailbo were compulsorily closed (Aug., 10, 1940, so he sought out a new start. This new start means that he decided to adapt to the contemporary situation and cooperate with the regime by changing is mind. He subsequently made a sincere effort to cooperate with the regime, soon after participating in a front lecturing tour held by the Joseon Literary Men’s Association.
｢Man Possessed by GoldMine｣ is a work which can be reviewed in such a context. ｢Man Possessed by GoldMine｣ tells the story of an intellectual with weak mentality, who tried to find out a vein of gold only for realizing his own ideal. On the basis of it, he intended to cooperate with the contemporary Japanese gold mining policy and plan to give a fundamental change in the life of intellectuals with weak mentality, who have not engaged in labor. Furthermore, the work may be a sketch of ｢Intellectual, Go to Goldmine!｣, another novel of Lee Seokhun how cooperated with the wartime economic policy, by developing the goldmines. He thus made a gradual effort to spontaneously contribute to the situation, by applying paint to the sketch layer after layer.