가까이 다가감: 영국 낭만주의 생태문화의 동물론

Abstract

This essay aims to investigate the common characteristics of what may be called the ‘Romantic’ attitude towards animals by examining both the changing cultural context and specific literary works of the Romantic period. It seeks to uncover the traces of this attitude—traces that continue to shape our everyday lives—and to assess both its value and limitations. I propose ‘drawing closer’ as one of the most defining features of the Romantic approach to animals. This phrase refers to a countercurrent running against the dominant tradition of separating humans from animals. Romanticism can be seen as a cultural moment during which the sharp boundaries between humans and animals—long reinforced in European thought since the seventeenth century—began to blur. This shift is closely linked to the Romantic redefinition of nature, partly in reaction to the mechanization and urbanization of the post-industrial era. Yet the notion of drawing closer also reveals the limits of this Romantic stance: although Romantic writers approached animals with increased intimacy, they often fell short of truly reaching them, as if an invisible veil still separated the human gaze from the animal other. This tendency parallels a broader Romantic inclination to spiritualize and idealize nature, suggesting a form of intimacy that ultimately remains distant. With this in mind, I explore how the changing ecological and cultural conditions of the Romantic era gave rise to new modes of relating to animals⎯and how these modes continue to influence the ways we think about and engage with nonhuman life today.