명상을 이용한 셰익스피어 읽기

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate an in-class meditational reading of Shakespeare’s work in order to verify its usefulness for Korean Shakespeare scholars. Meditational reading was originally motivated by an encounter with the idea of the fasting of the mind (心齋), one of the most important methods of reaching one’s identification with Truth (Dao, 道), as proposed by Chuang Tzu: “Cease to listen with the mind but listen with the spirit (the breath, 氣).” Meditational reading is the application of Ki to the practice of literary reading, which I have been engaged in, as a professor of English literature, since 1990. The basic structure of a meditational reading is as follows: ① Intention to read the text, ② Concentration of mind on the text, ③ Receive Ki from the text through the reader’s eyes and breath, ④ Send that ‘information’ down to the lower Danjeon or stomach (Sea of life force, 丹田), ⑤ Retransmit that information back out through vocal chords, and indeed, the whole body. At the 2015 Autumn Academic Conference of the Shakespeare Association of Korea, I read Shakespeare’s sonnet 66, the speech of the Ghost to Hamlet in Hamlet (1.5.1-91), and two parts of Antony’s oration in Julius Caesar (3.2.74-108, 170-198), and then gathered responses of the audience, most of whom were Shakespeare scholars. I administered a survey, comprised of questions about the effects of meditational reading, such as how it had helped the audience enhance their understanding of the theme and tone of the passages read, and the like. The analysis of the survey resulted in a highly positive response. Statistically, the answers to all of the questions on the survey were significant. Admittedly, the meditational reading proved to be much more effective for understanding the tone of the passage than the understanding of its themes, but most of the subjects showed a highly positive response to its usefulness for literary understanding generally.