다문화 문식성 함양을 위한 소설교육 연구 - 공감적 상상력을 중심으로 -

Abstract

On the premise that empathic imagination is an essential element in novel education to foster multicultural literacy, this study inquired into the aspects of empathy in multicultural novels and considered education plans for multicultural novels based on such features. Multicultural literacy is a concept encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioral spheres allowing the understanding of diverse cultural and social contexts of a multicultural society and development of communication abilities in the community based on this understanding, and rise of knowledge and technology towards the practical area. Novels are a genre of narrative fiction which shapes a variety of human life in a multifarious manner, allowing the understanding of others and the world as well as self- reflection based on empathic imagination. This empathy plays a crucial role in fostering multicultural competency and multicultural literacy aimed by multicultural education. Empathy can be defined in many ways, but it is clearly different from agreement or compassion in the sense that it is “a process of understanding others by placing yourself in their situation. Therefore, novels allowing you to indirectly experience the problems of others contribute to expanding empathy with others and raise multicultural literacy based on this. This study sought possibilities of multicultural literacy education based on novels of Kim Yeon-su, Jung Ihyun and Choi Eun-young expressing the process of empathy of a multicultural society. The novel of Kim Yeon-su “Happy New Year to Everyone - To Raymond Carver” describes the process of empathy with strangers. This novel shows how people should communicate with one another and create empathy together escaping from the hierarchical structure between the mainstream nationals and a small number of foreigners. This novel makes it possible for the learners to reflect on the true communication attitude and the process of empathy. Besides, the novel of Jung Ihyun “Summer forever” demonstrates the power of small empathy to transform the isolated souls into “us.” In general, a state, nation, class, gender or physical signs can easily play a role as conditions of boundary, exclusion and discrimination. However, true empathy provides possibilities of overcoming this boundary with flexibility. Unlike these two novels, the novel of Choi Eun-young “Xin chào xin chào” manifests how hard it is to communicate and create empathy with others. Two families, who had lost their respective family members by the Vietnam War, sympathize with one another in the foreign land but both go through conflicts due to the historical wound of the Vietnam War. When one’s position is forced to others, it is transformed into violence and hospitality and empathy can be broken by the violence. Since each one of us is not only an individual and a member of a family but also members belonging to a state, it is required to understand situation and environment of others for true empathy. These novels will help the learners to comprehend the complex levels and dimensions of empathy with others, and learn how to build attitudes required for true empathy.