Time of Capital, Time of a Nation: Changes in Korean Intellectual Media in the 1960s-1970s

This paper aims to discuss the relationship between the form of knowledge and the time consciousness that have been reified through Changjak-gwa bipyeong, a quarterly literary magazine that has been published continuously since its first issue in 1966. Changjak-gwa bipyeong adopted a form of historical writing that attempted to recover the colonialist perception of history, advancing the theory of internal development as its main theme. This paper calls its historical consciousness "time of a nation"-- a consciousness that meaningful capitalist development or modernization must be initiated by a nation not by a ruling political power or specific class. In the 1970s, the key writers of Changjak-gwa bipyeong took a stand against the trend that supported the urban- and elites-centered literature and advanced the "theory of peasant literature" (nongmin munhangnon) and contributed to forming the framework of "the people and the intellectual." The intellectual movements led by Changjakgwa bipyeong in this period highlighted critics and historians with adequate historical consciousness as the most awakened citizens and, thus, emphasized the need for persistent critical writing as a vital practice for intellectuals. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]