한국 장편 소년소설의 전개과정과 소년상 연구

Abstract

This article was motivated by the observation that there have been few studies on the development of Korean juvenile novel. The purpose of this study is to examine the developmental aspects of Korean juvenile novels and the personalities of main characters in them. So far, research efforts have been devoted biasedly to juvenile short stories, perhaps due to the abundance of available resources in short stories. The years since 1920 saw greater enthusiasm toward "new education," and reading trends shifted away from short stories, which helped to give rise to novels. The majority of Korean juvenile novels in 1910s were translations of foreign novels, exemplified by Uncle Tom's Cabin and A Dog of Flanders. The first juvenile novel to be published in the newspaper was Sans Famille by Hector Malot, which was serialized in Dongailbo, renamed as Boopyongcho. The birth of Korean juvenile novel began with In Search of My Younger Brother, a detective story by Bang Jeonghwan, who exerted himself to present the troubled children in the colonial days with exciting and inspiring stories. Detective stories were enthusiastically received because of reasoning processes to seek out villains, thrill and suspense, and unexpected twists in storyline. The beginning of the 1930s saw the emergence and development of genre novels. An example of fantasy story was The adventures of Woongcheol by Joo Yo Seop, in which Korean tales, on the verge of being totally lost, were revived in fantasy stories to raise the awareness of intangible heritage. Park Se Young serialized a science fiction titled Ahama's Memoirs in the magazine Byeolnara. Eum Heung Seop serialized a realism novel Elder Brothers and Sisters in the same magazine. Korean children literature had its inception in the Japanese colonial days. Deprived of national sovereignty, people sought ways to enlighten children to regain national identity and pride. Korean juvenile novels presented brave, wise and industrious boys and girls as role models for children in the dark period. Most characters in those novels had great enough personalities to inspire children. Early Korean juvenile novels had their own share of shortcomings; all the same, various genre novels sprouted and the growth of Korean juvenile novel continued.