과학으로서의 문학 개념의 형성과 ‘知’의 표준화 - 주요 ‘문학개론서’를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Through examining books about the introduction to literature published after liberation from Japanese colonial rule to the late 1950s, this paper tried to investigate course of literature concept’ becoming scientific or academic. The introduction to literature can be defined academic writing that systematizes and theorizes knowledges of literature and, at same time, can also be defined as the subject name of a general culture course or the primary subject of several university majors. In that time, writing termed as an introduction to literature had a close correlation of literature’s self-positioning and constructing self-identity, which meant literature needed to strengthen its concept not as ‘art’ but one as ‘science’ in order to territorialize a branch in the humanities (or humanistic science). In this aspect, though Kim Gi-lim, Beak Chul and Choi Jea-seo each wrote an introduction to literature in different historical contexts, their books had a similar purpose or context of making understood the literature concept belongs in the ‘science’s sphere.’ In the introduction to literature, we can find logic in accepting and arranging theories of foreign literatures for understanding Korean modern literature and ways of generalizing western cannons into a model of ideal type of all literatures and making a general representation of all literatures, being not limited to certain national literatures like English literature, French literature, etc. The Theory of Literature (Rene Wellek and Austin Warren), which was translated and accepted at Korea in the late 1950s, emerged as a scientific theory and had absolute influences on books of the introduction to literature. These books contributed to the concept of literature to secure a comfortable place under name of ‘objectivity,’ covering up concrete historical context of each western theory of literature. Shortly, though starting to build a position of literature in the university academic system, the pursuit to make literature as science in ‘the introduction to literature’ really spreaded the idea of universality of literature based on cannons and theories of western literature. It needs critical reflection in that system as ‘the introduction to literature’ in the camp of literary education is effective and authoritative writing style in the present.