This study aims to analyze the similarities and differences between Natsume Soseki and Lee Kwangsoo who are considered the masters and representative intellectuals of modern literature each in Japan and Korea, with special attention to keywords commonly expressed in their literature. The keywords are four; money and human, news media, a portrait of an intellectual, and perception of women, and these are studied as follows.
First, repulsion toward mammonism, delineation of the magical power of money, and broken morality between relatives due to worldly desires were found in the both writers'' literature in common. But the two writers'' perspectives on capitalists and also the destinies of the characters who got to distrust human beings after their relatives'' betrayal were described to be different. This shows Soseki''s piercing criticism over the blind following of Japan in those days which was propelled to imperialism and at the same time, his pessimistic viewpoint on Japanese society which was strongly tinged with mammonism. Similarly, Lee Kwangsoo also shows a warning against mammonism, but what he emphasized was that all the people in the country, including capitalists, should never split, but band together, in order to move closer towards a civilized country like Japan and Western countries.
Second, the study payed attention to media as well, since the both writers used to be journalists who had a strong tie to newspaper and they placed a high value on newspaper. Their literature showed similar features, such as the influence of newspaper and false report, while the ways to cope with the false report were completely different.
Third, the study focused on how the intellectuals changes to figure out true nature. In case of Soseki''s literature, a social participatory critic on civilization changed to an intellectual with a critical view on civilization through private meetings, and then, to an ordinary citizen. This change was not such an abrupt thing, but had already inhered in his former works. In case of Lee Kwangsoo''s literature, on the other hand, a ''little child'' who is an intellectual that went to a civilized country to study pursuing civilization changed to a character blending in with peasants and living with them together, and then, to an active character playing a key role in an rural enlightenment campaign. In addition to this, unlike Soseki''s works, there was no experienced mentor who could give a intellectual stimulus and lead the way.
Lastly, in terms of the perception of women, the two writers showed the perspective to recognize women as human beings, while its meaning was limited though. And the aspects to pursue each morality and the law were also shown respectively, and this was related to a period difference between the two countries.
The study was not limited to full-length novels which used to be the main subject of the analyses in precedent studies, but it targeted various texts of the both writers, such as short stories, full-length novels, plays, lectures, and diaries. Particularly, it tried a broader range of comparative analysis by extending to the four subjects, beyond one. The study also focused on the process how the both writers'' thought had changed, because it was considered to be a very essential step for a more macroscopic comparative study between Japan and Korea in future, as well as for a comparative study of the both writers.
As a result of the intensive analysis, it was found the both writers'' literature corresponded to each other, and in particular, in a comparison between 『A Red Poppy(虞美人草)』 and 『Mujong(The Heartless, 無情)』, a refraction was found. And it seems that the difference aspects expressed in Soseki''s literature and Lee Kwangsoo''s former literature are not unrelated to a fact that Lee Kwangsoo started his creative activities earlier than Soseki''s age, as Lee''s literature created at his mature age, in a similar age of Soseki, showed differences from his early period works.