고정옥의 국문학 갈래 인식과 민요론 = Ko Jeong-Ok's Cognition on Korean Literature Genres and Theory of Korean Folksong

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Ko Jeong-Ok majored Chosun literature at Keijo Imperial University with a dissertation on Korean folksongs. After liberation of Korea, he became a professor of Department of Korean Language Education, Seoul National University and published papers on Korean literature, focusing on Korean folksongs and classical poetry. His hypothesis, which was organized taking into account the mutual relations among the genres of Korea literature, demonstrates the stream of literature history manifestly. On the other hand, his theory based on the evolutionary perception has been criticized for looking at the literature history from a viewpoint of ‘advancement’.
He organized ‘Urieomunhakoe ’(Association for Korean Language and Literature), the members of which considered the studies for setting up the system of university education and Korean literature urgent. They carried out studies actively, publishing research outcomes, such as < Korean Literature History >. They also published a variety of papers and documents on Korean literature in the journal of the association. Although the association could not be continued long owing to the Korean War that separated the members into South and North, they left significant research outcomes during a short working period. The research activity of Ko Jeong-Ok during the period is closely related to Urieomunhakoe.
The assessment of the research of Ko Jeong-Ok has been focused on Korean folksongs, whereas his achievements across the Korean literature has not been evaluated sufficiently. Therefore, in this article Ko Jeong-Ok’s research outcomes across the whole range of Korean literature is reviewed and evaluated in order to cast light upon his feature as a researcher who set up a hypothesis of literature history and tried theorization of Korean literature. In particular, attention is paid to his understanding of oral literature including folksongs as an important element in the stream of literature history.
Consulting previous studies on Ko Jeong-Ok’s research, his methodology of the classification of Korean literature is reviewed focusing on his publications before the Korean War. This study shows how he cognized literature history as well as the existence pattern and interaction of each genre. His cognition on folksongs, which is regarded as the starting point of his academic career, is also assessed.