손춘익 초기 창작동화의 저널치료 효과 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to evaluate and demonstrate the therapeutic effects of creative writing activities based on the case of Choon-ik Sohn, the children’s author whose writing can be understood as an example of literary therapy (treatment). To do it, the study reexamines his early literary works as forms of journal therapy from the larger perspective of literary therapy. Compared to other forms of writing, writing a journal proves to be more self-reflective and restorative of one’s life. In light of this fact, individual unconsciousness counts as a significant aspect. In the United States, research that show these effects have been conducted and verified. Sohn has already used theories and methods that American scholars have used. In his youth, he went through psychological trauma due to severe poverty and suffered under a lot of conflict and distress deep down in his unconscious world because of his father who was incompetent and did a great deal of damage to the family. In school, he felt very ashamed of his poverty. Thus, he grew up suffering with a great sense of shame from his dark family days. Therefore, the research reviews how his heartbroken pain and sufferings are mirrored in his literary works on the basis of two theoretical factors: the ‘Oedipus Complex’ deeply associated with his painful agony within his unconscious, and the ‘sense of cultural shame’ owing to his trauma. Sohn gave up his dream as a painter, and instead, became an extensive reader. The literary activities that he carried out through reading and writing helped Sohn grow, based on the friends, mentors or even the imaginary father that he was able to encounter. In particular, his creative activity of writing children’s stories conjured up his younger ego that had been rooted in his heart since an early age, and his heartbroken soul was healed after he became an adult and an author. The study on therapeutic processes in Sohn’s later literary works is another topic for research that will continue to be explored in the future.