근대 척독집 성행의 문화적 의미와 근대 한문학사적 위상- 근대 척독의 이중적 효용과 그 의미를 중심으로

Abstract

This article aims to examine the meaning of cultural phenomenon of popularity of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese between the 1900s and 1950s and explain its status in the History of Korean Chinese Literature. For this purpose, this article looked at 13 kinds of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese representative of each period in terms of the aspects of ‘old tradition(舊)’ and ‘contemporary meaning(時).’ Through this process, it analyzed the dual effects of simultaneous acquisition of ‘authority’ and ‘practicality’ was fundamental reasons for the popularity of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese. In other words, the genre essence of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese lied in the co-existence of opposite tendency of ‘old/authority’ and ‘contemporary/ practicality’. This article ultimately claims that the reason why modern people continue to consume the Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese is because of these dual effects. To prove this, this article examined the dimension of maintaining ‘old tradition(舊)’ in Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese in terms of two things. First, it focused on the order and principles of Confucianism embodied through the table of contents and example sentences in Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese. Second, it focused on the function of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese as a medium defending the old classic studies and details of the function. Also, it examined the dimension of reflecting ‘contemporary meaning(時)’ in Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese in terms of following two aspects. First, it analyzed the chronological change of Korean and Chinese mixed style as well as the stylistics on the Korean and Chinese characters by the authors of major Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese. Second, it examined the contents of various products of civilization introduced in Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese, and pointed out that it also served as a cultural learning material. Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese at the level of History of Korean Chinese Literature should be seen not as a text in the period of decline, but as a genre that ‘promptly responded to the historical change and demands of the public.’ The agonies and search for solutions by various readers of Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese were contained in this text, through which the écriture that is ‘Chinese Classics’ became popularized and lasted. Thus, the status of Modern Study Materials for Writing Letters in Chinese in the History of Korean Chinese Literature should be evaluated more actively.