고전문학 리더십의 재발견과 그 인문학적 가치

Abstract

Literary works usually deal with how characters find and understand themselves in society and reality. When we discuss leadership in literature, characters’ perception of selves should be considered before anything else because the process of leadership building is carried out in the character’s existence in reality in which leadership qualities are realized and evaluated. Literature is a field of humanities which explore humans. Literature tries to discover truth by describing human lives in artistic form thus inducing empathy. The empathy that literature fosters help readers change their perceptions. The process of establishing identity of a protagonist shows a growing process as a leader. Many myths and novels tell about the lives of heros who realize their potential as a leader. This perspective that emphasizes leadership as an end value differ from the leadership discourse that views leadership education as a mean to acquire individual success. The narrative literature which depict the cross sections of human lives could be used as a text for leadership education. It shows various types of characters and their lives. Korean Classical Novels typically show the growth of characters and leadership of protagonists through the process of establishing their self identities. They also tell us the main goal of leadership education lies not in how to acquire the leadership skills but in how to grow as a human being with self identity. At the same time, it implies direction of humanistic leadership education. We should persue from humanistic perspective self realization as an end value of leadership education.