“나병은 낫는다”: “당신은 (이 사실을) 아십니까?” -잡지 『새빛』 수록 나병 계몽운동 자료 검토(1964∼1970)

Abstract

As we know, the Korean Hansen’s disease literature requires differentiated approaches from other types of literature due to the different historical, social, and political specialities that the lepers and Hansen’s disease experienced. Especially, literary works that emerged during the period of the leprosy enlightenment movement should be reviewed in the flow of leprosy enlightenment policy and movement. The purpose of this study is to examine the specificity of leprosy literature by reviewing the enlightenment materials in the magazine THE VISION published between 1964 and 1970, of course there needs more discussions in details. The full-scale study on the magazine THE VISION has not yet been made. it is not an easy task to examine the reality of the Enlightenment Movement, such as discussion, lecture, and advertisement. This was written in the process of thinking about how to approach the Korean Hansen's disease literature through the data of the leprosy enlightenment movement period. The magazine, THE VISION was published with the enlightening purpose to give a ‘new vision’ to ‘lepers’ in ‘the dark’. As the English title ‘Vision’ shows, the magazine began with the will to find hope in a desperate reality and to set a vision in the vision-less society. However, even under such a slogan of the enlightening movement, the social atmosphere did not change easily. It emphasized ‘enlightenment education’ to eliminate discriminative language and emotions, such as the term ‘Migama’[未感兒]. The social rehabilitation of lepers was still controversial. In this situation, leprosy enlightenment movement could go forward to the direction which was set originally? One thing to remember here is that the state of ‘ignorance’ about leprosy has become a standard for the boundary between Oriental medicine[韓醫學] and modern medicine, or traditional superstition and modern knowledge. Leprosy focused as the object of conquest and pioneering was not limited only to the problem of physical disease, and expanded to the problem of mental and cognitive dimension. Facing with the series of events caused by ignorance, the Enlightenment Movement presented medical common sense as an indispensable requirement to maintain a healthy life of daily life. The leprosy enlightenment movement has been made through mass media such as advertising, broadcasting, theater, movies, and public lectures such as medical classes and medical consultations since mid-1960s. The advertising included the ads such as “Do You Know (The Fact)?”, “Leprosy Heals”, and “Danger and Safety of Leprosy”. What we need to pay attention is that not only the leprosy but also disease were pointed as the ‘common sense of health’ that the public should learn. As the common sense of disease was regarded as the ‘knowledge’ to keep health, ignorance of disease was the object to ‘enlighten’. The characteristics and direction of Hansen's disease literature were decided according to the expert symposiums on leprosy, common sense lectures on leprosy, and ads of leprosy healing. ‘Leprosy Enlightenment Literary Works’[癩病啓蒙文藝作品], which the general readers participated in shows not only recognition change, but also the limitations of the public. It is expected that there will be followed further detailed discussions in the future.