In his 1989 study Oriental Birth Dreams, Fred Jeremy Seligson presented statistical figures on the frequencies of primary dream symbols in conception dreams (taemong) indicating the genders, personality characteristics and future careers of the children they represent. One of the most rapidly shifting and developing socio-economic landscapes in the world, South Korea has gone from one of its poorest countries in 1953 (post-Korean War) to the tenth largest economy in the world today. While the operative dream symbols in the birth dreams collected by Seligson thirty-three years ago reflect a society still highly attuned to the natural world, the author asks: what might occur if the symbolic frequencies of the dream images shift in accordance with Korea’s socio-cultural, technological, and environmental changes? As South Koreans continue their exodus from the countryside to the urban center of the Seoul metro area the IT capital of the world and now the site of residence of approximately half the country’s population (26 million people) the nature-based conception images (such as animals, fruits and flowers) of their ancestors may be increasingly supplanted by the unnatural objects of their immediate surroundings (such as smart phones, computers and characters from video games). With attention to the spiritual, psychological and biological aspects of birth dreams, their medical applications, epistolary, and poetic forms, this paper examines their nature as personal mythologies. It then concludes with a close reading of a recently discovered digital birth dream in order to understand how it might affect the oral tradition of taemong, the lives of those who dream them and those who are dreamt.
목차
1. Introduction 2. The Technology of Taemong 3. Conclusion Works Cited [Abstract]
국제언어인문학회 [INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HUMANISTIC STUDIES IN LANGUAGE]
설립연도
2000
분야
인문학>언어학
소개
국제언어인문학회는 '언어를 통한 인문학 연구'의 필요성에 동감하는 여러 전공분야 학자들의 뜻을 담고 있습니다. 언어에 초점을 맞추는 것은, 다양한 전공분야의 참여에서 생겨날 수 있는 '이질적 집합'의 상황을 극복하기 위한 장치입니다. 현재로서는 작은 불씨를 지핀 것에 불과합니다. 그러나 이렇게 일구어진 불꽃이 새로운 학풍의 바람결에 커다란 섬광으로 빛나게 될 날이 올 것을 우리는 확신합니다. 우리의 학회와 학술지는 인문학 불변의 가치와 시대적 사명을 인식하는 국내외의 학자들을 향해 활짝 개방되어 있습니다. 특정 전공의 범위를 넘어서서 철학, 문학, 언어학, 종교, 역사, 문화, 예술 등의 시각에서 언어의 본질을 토론할 기회가 될 것입니다.