한국의 일본근현대문학 연구 현황과 과제 = Studies on Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature in Korea: Present and Future

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Currently, sixteen peer-review journals related to Japanese literature make it to the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) list and two journals are under consideration. A statistical study conducted in 2012 shows that 493 Korean authors including 54 Japanese ones published 1,614 journal articles on modern and contemporary Japanese literature during the years of 2005-11. 231 journal articles were annually published, which tells each author on average published 3.3 articles. It is notable that 69 authors annually published more than one article in the area of modern/contemporary Japanese literature. The journal articles published in Korea mostly deal with modern/contemporary Japanese writers, which counts 184 in total. Akutagawa is studied the most and Soseki is the next in rank. Oe is ranked third and Haruki is fifth, which shows the trend that studies on contemporary writers are remarkably increasing. Kawabata is also ranked fourth, Dazai and Toson have been stably studied, each ranked sixth and seventh among the most-studied writers. As a top subject matter, scholars focus on "society." "Anguish," "relationship between man and woman," "religion," and "family" have been treated in order. Concerning the methodologies/approaches, studies have been done with the use of "expression." "Comparative study," "Korean-Japanese literature/writers," "Images of Korea(n)" have considerably increased as predicted in the 2005 review. 129 books on modern/contemporary Japanese literature were published in Korea and this means eighteen books were published annually over the past seven years. 54 books including co-authored ones are strongly research-oriented; 27 books are characteristic of introductions/responses to modern/contemporary Japanese literature; 25 books are categorized into the overview/literary history; 23 books are translated works from research books by Japanese scholars; 14 edited books consist of contributions from scholars, focusing on mostly Korean-Japanese literature and Christian literature. 26 books about seventeen writers including Kawabata and Akutagawa were published because scholars were actively involved in writing books and dissertations were also made into books. This statistical study helps us not only establish studies and researches on modern/contemporary Japanese literature in Korea, but also further them by envisioning their direction as well as by seeking new subjects regarding writers/themes/methodologies, etc. It is positive to observe increasing number of researchers and researches promote various societies and associations. More importantly, however, they should reconsider how to evaluate works in order to encourage scholars to produce high-quality research. Studies on Japanese literature should be adapted to the changes of environments not to mention coping with them. Considering humanities including the Japanese literature aim at understanding the human kind, they are effective in lessening conflicts over politics, economy, culture and society among nations. I hope that mutual studies on modern/contemporary Korean/Japanese literature will help develop the relation between Korea and Japan. I expect more of original researches either individually, or collaboratively in the area of modern/contemporary Japanese literature. It is necessary to encourage interdisciplinary and comparative studies as well as to continue establishing academic ties with foreign scholars and associations.