역사주의의 귀환－한국현대문학 연구방법론 小考 -

Abstract

This thesis tries to discuss one of the research trends appeared in the studies of korean modern literature since 2000’s, in the dimension of methodology. But ‘the research methodology’ itself is not the only concerns of this thesis. The reform pressure and the crisis of research environment, which many korean universities are now suffering, are also the concerns of this thesis. Considering these pressure and crisis, in what dimension are we supposed to inquire into the research methodology? This thesis does not intends to deal with ‘new theories’ applicable to today’s studies of korean modern literature, but to discuss ‘the problem of methodology’ in the broader dimension. It may be said that the essentialistic and nomological historicism of the past could be discarded but the historicism itself should not be abolished in the studies of korean modern literature. The revised version of historicism returned does not pull down the traditional themes of literary studies, i.e. authors, literary works and literary history, but open the way of new possibilities to the studies of these traditional themes. This new methodology intends to re-describe the meanings of past texts by re-ordering those texts. Besides, this new historicism could be considered as the methodology which reflects the situation of oversea korean studies and the abrupt change of domestic research environment.