• Journal of Korean Classical Literature and Education
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• no.38
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• pp.103-138
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• 2018

This study examines the modern succession, transformation and significance of enjoyment methods of classical literature (art) with a focus on the characteristics of those methods that appeared when the performances of the traditional era began to be displayed on the stage of the theaters in modern Seoul. The clues to the reasons for this type of enjoyment can be found in newspapers, magazine articles, and advertisements from the early 20th century. The emergence of stage theaters at the beginning of the modern era caused a sweeping change in the performance environment, including the fact that it was possible for all kinds of people to enjoy art beyond the existing socioeconomic hierarchies or barriers of status, that the performers were given employment through the theater, and that the audience had the tendency of the general public of an unspecified number because the audience was able to see the performances only by paying the viewing fee. The way of enjoying traditional performances also changed based on these new adaptations: the performances were sequential, show-oriented, and re-contextualized as public performances. It is significant that in the traditional era, performers and audiences had been segregated according to their status and a strict hierarchy; now, such cultural norms were breaking down in favor of a kind of equality. In addition, it was possible for the audience to experience sensory enjoyment, and theater brought about a new kind of popular consumer enjoyment of an artistic product. Of course, though, it is possible to look back and find problems related to the contemporary context, but the traditional performances, which were the main performances for the lower class, took the first place on the modern theater stage, and as a result, no one can deny that it became possible to move forward in the first phase of an era of public performance.