Where is the Literary Girl Today?

Seo Yoo-jung, Kang Da-yonl½ÂÀÎ2015.04.06l¼öÁ¤2015.04.06 14:04l0È£ 0¸é

Å©°Ô

ÀÛ°Ô

¸ÞÀÏ

Àμâ

½Å°í

Grab any book you are reading now. What kind of book is it? Science fiction? Macbeth by Shakespeare? Or a book that informs you on how to get a job? When comparing the ranks of best-selling novels in the United States with Korea, appellative books and the books for work guidelines, ranked in the top 10 in Korea.

In contrast, classic literature took the highest rank in the United States. This shows that Koreans loose their sensitivity to literature Unlike before, the moment where people shared their thoughts on literature with friends by reciting a phrase from a poem that touched our minds, is disappearing. Where are the literary girls and boys of today? Ask yourself the reason why they are disappearing. In this article, a literary girl refers to the girls and boys who are fond of the literature and
enjoy sharing their thoughts with others.

¡ã Where is the literal girl now.

Today it seems pure sensitivity to literature has declined and there are no longer any literary girls around. The reasons why can be found in our educational system and our social priorities. First of all, juveniles in Korea are not required to read novels in schools like they do in other countries. The literature classes in our school just teach skills for students to gain a high score in a university entrance examination and that is what the students want. The students from primary school to high school do not read books which are not helpful for
their test taking abilities.

Furthermore, the situation is worsened at the university level as students are pressured to focus on their future and any book that is not helpful for them in finding a job is overlooked. For them reading a novel is an extravagance since they have to be ready to find a job. In other words, one’s education and our companies in modern society demand more tangible and obvious qualifications
than simply our sensibility from within. Thus, students loose their taste for
literature and their heightened sense of sensitivity that can only be gained by reading various categories thoughtfully.

Secondly, there are the social aspects associated with reading literature. It is not cool any more to share our thoughts about books we appreciate. People treat a person expressing their literary sensibility by reading a poem on the internet as ridiculous and awkward. In contemporary Korean society, students who read literature are excluded and differentiated from other students and the literary girl has become old news.

It is a serious problem in our universities, where discussing a book no longer stimulates a student’s sensibility. In fact, for university students and even society as a whole, it is difficult to be convinced that reading a book will in fact, enrich their lives. The Dankook Herald (DKH) met Professor Park Deok-gyu (Dept. of Creative Writing) to discuss this situation and find out a possible solution that might evoke the literary sensibility of our students. Book are the only media
where people share information and further accommodate emotions beyond the information we acquire in our youth. Thus, unlike today, sentimental and emotional tendencies blossomed naturally in the past.

DKH explained our theory behind the reasons why the literary girl has disappeared. He responded by saying, “Emergence of this trend to ignore literature is because capitalism does not respect value which is not visible immediately.”

He also added that there were no opportunities to make a habit of reading for Koreans who have undergone a radical process of modernization in their cultural history. Professor Park stated his more specific views on the current situation. “Korean emotions inevitably die because our Korean education system takes away or modifies the process we use to reach the results by thinking individually. That’s why a social atmosphere where one can express their personal emotions does not exist. And after the advent of cyber media, emotions are modified and insufficiently expressed.”

He added “In these days, poems are the most popular form of Korean literature due to the fact that its benefits can be seen immediately and can decorate a lot of pages. Because of this, the current media environment is well suited to poetry.”
Though we miss the pure literary culture of the past, the professor offered up a solution. “Social power is necessary to evoke literary sensitivity like in the old days. Every society like nations, corporations, schools, and communities should develop suitable conditions to allow people time for introspection. Also, they have to provide a lot of opportunities for people to express and share their individual
opinion.” Finally, he ended the interview with a tip to enjoying literature; begin with what you can enjoy yourself.

From the interview with the professor, DKH learned why interest in Korean literature declined. We also found that it is better to approach this problem socially rather than personally in order to solve it. However, we cannot just blame our society. The youth who decry literary emotions as ‘uncool stuff’, need to change their attitudes to ones that value liberal arts knowledge. It would be great to try hard to revive our interests in literature through steady efforts like reading and writing activities.


Seo Yoo-jung, Kang Da-yon  dkherald@hotmail.com
<ÀúÀÛ±ÇÀÚ © The Dankook Herald, ¹«´Ü ÀüÀç ¹× Àç¹èÆ÷ ±ÝÁö>

Àαâ±â»ç

±â»ç ´ñ±Û
ù¹ø° ´ñ±ÛÀ» ³²°ÜÁÖ¼¼¿ä.
0 / ÃÖ´ë 400byte

¼ýÀÚ¸¦ ÀÔ·ÂÇØÁÖ¼¼¿ä

¿å¼³µî ÀνŰø°Ý¼º ±ÛÀº »èÁ¦ÇÕ´Ï´Ù.
¿©¹é
The Dankook Herald Complaints Rejection of Email Collection Reception Report
Dankook Univ. Jukjeon Campus, Jukjeon 1-dong, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea (Tel. 031-8005-2427)
Dankook Univ. Cheonan Campus, Anseo-dong, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea (Tel. 041-550-1656)
Publisher. An Soon-cheol | Executive Director, Dankook Media Center. Yang Young-yu
Administrator, Dankook Media Center. Lim Hyun-soo | Editor in Chief, The Dankook Herald. Kim Ju-yeon
Copyright © 1999 - 2024 The Dankook Herald. All rights reserved.