세계문학 - 한국문학의 세계화가 나아갈 길

Abstract

This paper aims at taking a critical intervention into current discourses on ‘globalization of Korean literature’, which focuses on translating Korean literature into English and winning a Nobel Prize in Literature. The current discourses focus on enhancing national image and inducing economic benefits to Korea. In this government-led export-driven cultural policy, translation plays a minimal role as a tool, and translation strategies are customized to target culture, preventing various translations. On the other hand, the idea of ‘world literature’ presented by Goethe emphasizes exchange, dialogue, and communication among small literatures of the peripheries. In this concept of world literature, it is critical to identify particularities of peripheral literatures and to respect those particularities when translating. Translation is the only possible way to pursue world literature, which allows literature to give its particular values and messages to mankind. This paper, therefore, suggests ‘world literature’ as a way forward for globalization of Korean literature.