통섭적 사유와 인문학적 상상력: 해양문학의 지평 확대를 위하여

Abstract

Looking into maritime literature through consilient thinking and humanistic imagination enables the reader to question the uniform discussions regarding it. By drawing in a variety of literary qualities evident in maritime literature, new possibilities of creation in literature are set forth. If the creation of maritime literature is what writers are solely responsible for, the literary world as a whole is able to answer for the denial and criticism arising from the limited understanding that considers the sea a mere storage of the material world. It is believed that there will be a colorful burst of new literary possibilities,if such a critical view is well accepted to make contributions to authorial creativity. This study lays its purpose on a critical understanding of the reality in which discussions on maritime literature have so far ruled out any thinking, sensibility, and ideas different from the prevailing view that maritime literature is nothing buta portrayer of a material sea. The sea reflected in and represented by literature should not be denied its identity just because it lies beyond the physical boundaries defined by oceanography. This research is designed to create an opportunity to review and rethink materialism that has been haunting maritime literature, with a new approach grounded on consilience tearing down the boundaries of knowledge and imagination valuing but not confined to material itself. It also aims to bring new attention to a maritime literature featuring human beings and their lives along with a variety of human needs and desires emerging from them. All these efforts to overcome the framework of the existing literary trend are expected not to deconstruct maritime literature but instead to help restore, and strengthen, its productive creativity. After all, it is the cultivation of a good literature, be it rooted in materialistic spatiality or in organistic placeness, that we are working for in order to make the world a better place to live in. In this regard, it is believed that renewing approaches to studying maritime literature with the new tools of consilient thinking and humanistic imagination has a direct link not only to expanding the boundaries of Korean literature but also to unveiling the veil of human life.