근대 이행기의 문학 · 출판 제도의 변천

Abstract

This paper focuses on changes in the literary environment of modern novels resulting from the shifting roles of printing and publications, the diffusion of books, new reading trends, and the formation of public readers. These environmental changes are significant insofar that they influence the internal changes in novels of the period. The 17th century was a period of transformation, where the medieval began its shift to the modern and where cities and commerce developed. The main agents of the market economy were merchants, the middleclass(jung-in), and illegitimates (suh-ul), all of which were among the subordinate classes. As consumer culture and the distribution system flourished, publishing business developed, leading to commoditization of books. As a result, novel distribution was prevalent. Book rentals(se-chaek) dealing with hand-transcribed texts(pilsa-bon) appeared and bookdealers(chaek-quae) played an important role in the development of the book rentalbusiness. Public readers of rented books were primarily thought to be women of aristocratic families. However, newly discovered credit accounts indicate that clientele came from a variety of social standings. In other words, the number of people in Joseon society reading Korean script (Hangul) novels boomed. This transformation led to a demand that exhausted the available supply and in turn brought about the emergence of mass-production wood block texts (bangkak-bon). Bangkak-bon refers to the xylographic books printed by private publishers for the purpose of commercial profit. Emerging with the increase in the demand for Korean script novels, they are classified according to the places they were published—Kyungpan (Hanyang, now Seoul), Wanpan(Jeonju), and Ansungpan(Ansung). Since they were produced for the purpose of profit, bangkak-bon novels tend to abbreviate stories, there by damaging the literary value of the original. At the same time, however, they contributed greatly to the formation of public readers by enabling people to share texts with fixed forms. In the late 19th century, Western and lead-type printing techniques were introduced. These changes greatly affected literary history. Books became products, and public readers were formed in the mechanism of mass production and consumption. Although there are negative opinions concerning the old style printing books(guhwaljabon), for example, they are thought by some to only be popular, low-grade and degenerating amusements, they should be considered in terms of public refinement as well as the tastes of readers. The formation of public readers, in accordance with the development of publications in the modern transformation period, significantly led to the development of a socio-textual community that established the use of Hangul. It also built a proper foundation required for progressing into the modern period.