KJC Korea
Journal Central

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘metaverse’ has emerged as an important topic in various fields of our society. Translated into ‘transcendent world’ or ‘virtual world’ in Korean, this term reproduces various activities of people similar to reality in a virtual space that seems to have copied the real world. In this context, discussions on metaverse utilization are already actively underway in various fields. In this paper, the role and tasks of Korean classical literature in the metaverse world have been discussed. On the contrary, it is also a discussion about how to use the metaverse in Korean classical literature. To this end, this paper first discussed the changes in the learning environment and the problem of learning subjects that the digital generation faced. Unlike the past, the digital generation has positioned itself as a ‘learning subject’ rather than a ‘educational object’, and has the characteristic of becoming a ‘content producer’ rather than a ‘content consumer’. Next, based on these characteristics, the role and tasks of Korean classical literature in the metaverse era were examined. First, on the premise of accurately interpreting and understanding individual works of classical literature, the reasons for moving from the sharing of universal emotions to personal acceptance were discussed. Next, considering the characteristics that variations and processing are easy in the metaverse world, the possibility of using classical literature as a learning material was examined. The concept of the metaverse is not yet familiar to everyone. In particular, it is an even more unfamiliar concept to classical literature majors. However, it is necessary to make efforts to enhance the modern value and utility of classical literature by using a platform familiar to the digital generation.

This paper examined that classical literature is a valuable text that can building up Verstand just because it is old. The reasons for this are the following three. First, I wondered if the value of classical literature was coming to an end. Second, some pre-modern literature that does not have a status as classics may have excessive meaning. Third, it is difficult to prepare lectures at universities because the number of works with classical status is small among pre-modern literature. As a response to this, the following discussions were conducted in this paper. Chapter 1 established a justification for discussing the value of classical literature by diagnosing the reality of the decline in the status of classics. Chapter 2 focused on the problem of the value of classical literature. The actual appreciation results of Song Soon(宋純)’s Sijo work “Managing a Decade”(십년을 경영하여〜) were analyzed. The analysis results are as follows. The difference in the literary environment is involved in the temporal distance between the reader and the work. This results in differences in language texture. This difference has a characteristic that acts to make the reader understand the familiar concept formed in the good deed. Chapter 3 examines the meaning of the analysis results in Chapter 2 in Kant’s concept of Verstand. As a result of the review, it was found that the reader’s Verstand was built up in the process of appreciating classical works. The building up of Versatnd was caused by the reader’s efforts to understand the language of ‘Then, There, His/Her’ in order to reduce the distance from the language of work, ‘Now, Here, My’. The degree of Building up depends on the degree of effort. The following topics were demonstrated by the discussion of this paper. Classical literature is valuable as a text that can build up Verstand just because it is old. The reason is that classical literature works were produced in a different literary environment of ‘Then, There, His/Her’, which is far from the era of ‘Now, Here, My’ of the reader. The difference in language texture itself, which is caused by old age, is the foundation for building up Verstand so that the world can be viewed in various ways. As a result, the following three problems were solved. The first is the problem that researchers give excessive meaning to some pre-modern literature. The second is the difficulty of selecting works for instructors to lecture in the educational field. The third is anxiety about selecting. The perception of this value of classical literature will serve as an opportunity for the center of classical literature to shift somewhat to old literature.

First, in the field of related search terms, it is as poor as ‘Chunhyangjeon’ that is directly related to Korean classical novels. Except for educational materials, about 『the classic novel Odyssey』 appears on the first screen, and as for videos, popularized videos do not appear except for educational materials. Related news is also not receiving attention except for distributing press releases. Books related to classical novels also mentioned the degree of publications of institutions that distribute press releases. In particular, from January 1, 2021 to August 16, 2022, there were no books related to classical novels on Kyobo Bookstore’s best seller list. Second, in bookstores, both classical novel theory books and popular books were already missing from bookshelves. It proves that the keyword “classical novel” is gradually being erased from the public’s eyes. In the survey, the degree of overall awareness of classical novels was low. The reading volume of classical novels was very insufficient, and the reading tendency was simple. However, what is hopeful is that there were many demands for popular books and lecture programs related to classical novels. Third, Lim Chi-kyun’s lecture on royal novels during the Joseon Dynasty was very well received by the students and showed very high satisfaction in the satisfaction survey. In the case of videos produced for “the Story of Yedeok Teacher”, they paid more attention to life than the keyword of classical fiction. Fourth, through Lee Hu Nam’s 『Monsters』, there are contents that he learned various classical novels through interesting monster and its image. This directly showed the possibility of character development based on the imageization of classical novels. Through online reactions to Shin Byung-joo and Noh Dae-hwan’s 『History Travel in Classical Fiction』 the positive effect of connecting classical novels to historical and cultural phenomena of the Joseon Dynasty could be confirmed. Through this analysis, there were not many areas where classical fiction majors could directly contribute to popularization. It was found that translating classical novels into modern languages is important, and YouTube video production, publication of a popular book, and operation of lecture programs are the most realistic methods.