일제강점기 ‘소년시’ 연구－장르 정착의 실패 요인과 시사점을 중심으로－

Abstract

The process of juveadolescents’ poems birth, development, and extinction reflects the historical characteristics of Korean children’s literature. Before the national liberation, Korean children’s literature showed unique characteristics not seen in other countries. A number of juvenile readers took part in creating children’s songs, contributing to the golden age. They were called juvenile literary artists. They gave a birth to adolescents’ poems so to speak. In the initial stage, adolescents’ poems and children’s poems of the free rhythm entered into competition. As the juvenile literary movement declined, the average age of readers became lower. Adolescents’ poems reflecting the voice of writers in their mid-teens could not compete with children’s poems represented with children’s voice. Thus, the former barely managed to maintain existence. Finally, the poetry genre of children’s literature resulted in children’s songs of the fixed rhythm and children’s poems of the free rhythm. Adolescents’ poems maintained the lineage for a while but ended up with extinction, failing to secure the status of a genre. As the educational system for national education was established after the national liberation, writers and readers of children’s literature were separated institutionally. As a result, the category of modern children’s literature was established with the unique characteristic of asymmetry in terms of age between writers and readers. Currently, the term ‘children’s literature’ indicates literary works that professional adult artists write for child readers. This is a global phenomenon that has developed since the modern age.