한국 아동문학 형성과정 연구 - 「소년」(1908)에서 「어린이」(1923)까지 -

Abstract

Since children’s literature is created for the children, the genre can only be established once the modern child, separate from the adult, is discovered. Also, for creative activities for children to constantly take place, the ‘field of children’s literature’ must be created and a ‘group of specialized authors’ must appear. This study stems from such revelations and uses various literary data of the modern transition period to study the formation process of the genre of children’s literature in Korea. The term ‘Boy(소년)’ that appeared in the magazines of the 1900’s did not refer to the ‘Child(아해)’, but to the ‘new generation’ that was to take on the demands of the times and was used in the same sense as ‘Young adult(청년)’. The term ‘Children(아이들)’ which was used in the youth magazines of the 1910’s referred to the young readers who came in contact with the magazines with parents and meant the same thing as ‘Child(아해)’. The concept of ‘youngsters(어린이)’ which came up with the youth movement of the 1920’s referred to younger people than Young Adults, but had a sense of ideology built within the term, unlike the term ‘Children(아이들)’ of the 1910’s. In 1923, the children’s issue research group ‘Sek-Dong-Hwe(색동회)’ was formed and took charge of the youth movement and the magazine 『Uh-Rin-Y(어린이)』. This was when a social recognition of ‘children(아동)’ different from the concept of ‘kids(in the sense of offspring; 자녀)’ was formed. The youth movement provided a constant supply of readers to children’s literature, which was based on a fragile system until then, and the ‘Sek-Dong-Hwe’ gave birth to many authors and poets specializing in children’s literature. The magazine 『Uh-Rin-Y』 functioned as a ‘field of children’s literature’ independent from adult literature. Only after undergoing such a process was creative work in children’s literature able to take place with stability.