디지털 시대의 문학교육

Abstract

It is in the 1990s with the advent of computer and the Internet that the discourse on the crisis of literature has emerged and evolved. As handwriting becomes an extinct practice, an aura of handwritten manuscripts disappears. Also, as online writing becomes more and more popular, information spreads much faster, and the general public are greatly eager to write. As a result, the various institutional apparatuses for literature suitable for traditional print media become useless. In addition, the literary critic's strict approval process, the editor's prudent selection in which commercial success is taken into consideration, and the writer's keen desire for originality become meaningless. At the same time, the reader rapidly transforms himself/herself from a passive consumer who only receives information to an active user who is able to reproduce, store, and circulate information on the Internet. What is more, in this day and age, one merely involving in the flow of information is recognized as an information producer. On this point, these circumstances should be considered in relation to the literary education, and it would be outdated for literary educators to stick with traditional media and to diffuse literature by simply using media. Rather, the literary education must respond to the critical way today's digital media use the literature of the past. In other words, it is inevitable to understand how the digital age reshapes literature. Therefore, the literary education should aim to make it clear that today's literature is an institutional product molded in the media environment of today. If so, the media environment of today is similar to the literary environment in the past in which oral literature was formed and transmitted in that there are no originality required, no distinction between a producer and consumer, and above all, the openness (flexibility) of literature in which it can be transformed at the request of the public. Consequently, it can be said that an unfair criticism on the media environment of the middle ages results from the bias of the current literary system. Likewise, it is necessary to establish the literary education which draws the public's attention to the new form of literature created by the new media environment. Also, a new direction for poetry education should be created on the basis of such the awareness.