2010년대 이후 한국 청소년소설에 나타난 인물의 변화 양상 연구 = A Study on the Shift in Character Representation in Korean Young Adult Fiction Since the 2010s

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A Study on the Shift in Character Representation in Korean Young Adult Fiction Since the 2010s Kim Yu Mi Advisor: Prof. Kim Hyoung Joong, Ph.D. Department of Korean Language ＆ Literature, Graduate School of Chosun University This dissertation aims to examine the characteristics of contemporary Korean young adult fiction and its sociocultural significance by analyzing the changing patterns of character representation in Korean young adult fiction since the 2010s. Since the 2010s, new types of adolescent characters that had rarely appeared in earlier periods have begun to emerge prominently in Korean young adult fiction. These include girls preoccupied with dieting, pregnant female students who assert sexual self-determination, adolescents who work part-time, young carers, sexual minority youth, adolescents with disabilities, refugee youth, drifting youth, and adolescents who form relationships with nonhuman beings. These characters no longer remain within the conventional trajectory of universal coming-of-age narratives. This study understands such changes in character representation as the result of shifts in social discourses surrounding adolescents in contemporary society and changes in the symbolic position of youth, both of which have permeated the literary field. Based on this perspective, this dissertation selects eighteen Korean young adult novels published since the 2010s that feature new types of characters difficult to explain through the normative image of youth found in earlier periods. These works are analyzed under four categories: “the conflict between the capitalized adolescent body and personal desire,” “the dismantling of the normality-centered universal image of youth,” “critical intervention in the violence of communal sameness,” and “nonhuman subjects beyond anthropocentrism.” The findings of this study are as follows. First, in the category of “the conflict between the capitalized adolescent body and personal desire,” the analysis of appearance-oriented girl characters shows that the female adolescent body has emerged as a site where social norms and individual desires collide. Through adolescents who work part-time and young carers, this study also demonstrates that adolescents are no longer represented merely as immature beings, but as social subjects who already perform labor and care. These characters embody the inequalities of social structures and the pathological effects of capitalism. Second, in the category of “the dismantling of the normality-centered universal image of youth,” female students who experience sexual activity or pregnancy, sexual minority youth, and adolescents with disabilities appear as subjects who possess their own emotions and rights. These characters criticize the order of normality and lead readers to reflect on an ethics of mutual dependence. Third, in the category of “critical intervention in the violence of communal sameness,” multicultural adolescents emerge as figures who must be read in relation to the politics of membership in a community. In addition, adolescents who leave existing communities or drift outside them are represented as figures who expose the violence embedded within traditional communities. Fourth, in the category of “nonhuman subjects beyond anthropocentrism,” adolescent characters who coexist with nonhuman beings reveal that adolescent identity can no longer be fixed solely within an anthropocentric order. Through these representations, Korean young adult fiction moves beyond the limits of human-centered subjectivity and explores new modes of relational existence. Through these analyses, this dissertation demonstrates that Korean young adult fiction since the 2010s has been reorganized as a critical genre that sensitively reveals the contradictions and transformations of contemporary society. It also suggests that, even amid the blurring of boundaries between young adult fiction and general fiction, young adult fiction possesses its own distinctive potential as a literary form that most precisely reflects on the present conditions of adolescents. In the future, young adult fiction will need to establish more autonomous generic criteria by creatively negotiating the tensions among commerciality, educational value, and literariness. This study is significant in that it reexamines the generic characteristics of young adult fiction through the shift in character representation in Korean young adult fiction since the 2010s, and reposition young adult fiction as a cultural text that intensively reveals changes in the discourses of the times. Keywords: young adult fiction, Korean young adult literature, since the 2010s, character representation, de-bordering, capitalized body, dismantling of the image of youth, community, nonhuman beings

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론 1
• 1. 연구의 목적 1
• 2. 연구사 검토 4
• 3. 연구의 필요성 및 연구 방법 15
• Ⅱ. 청소년소설의 개념과 특징 25
• 1. 문학에서의 ‘청소년’ 25
• 2. 청소년소설의 개념과 특징 35
• 3. 한국 청소년소설의 형성과 전개 40
• Ⅲ. 청소년의 삶의 변화와 청소년소설의 탈경계화 49
• 1. 청소년의 삶의 변화 49
• 2. 2010년대 이후 청소년소설의 탈경계화 62
• Ⅳ. 2010년대 이후 청소년소설에 나타난 인물의 위상 변화 67
• 1. 자본화된 청소년의 몸과 자기 욕망의 충돌 67
• 가. 왜곡된 외모 담론과 몸의 주권성 72
• 나. 청소년 노동의 불완전성과 돌봄의 비정상성 79
• 2. 정상성 중심의 보편적 청소년상의 해체 94
• 가. 소녀의 섹슈얼리티와 임신 서사 98
• 나. 청소년 성 소수자와 장애 인물의 능동적 주체화 104
• 3. 공동체의 동일성 폭력에 대한 비판적 개입 121
• 가. 다문화 청소년과 공동체의 재구성 123
• 나. 공동체의 정상성에 균열을 내는 청소년 132
• 4. 인간중심주의를 넘어서는 비인간 주체 145
• 가. 재난 이후 인간과 비인간의 공존 윤리 148
• 나. 타자의 흔적을 품은 플랫폼화된 몸 170
• Ⅴ. 결론 176
• 1. 논의의 요약 176
• 2. 청소년소설이 나아갈 방향 및 제언 182
• 참고문헌 188