<춘향전>은 우리 문학의 대표적 작품으로, 그 이본만도 100여 종을 헤아린다. 또한 한국문학사에서 가장 널리 알려진 고전이며 남북한 모두에서 사랑받는 작품이기도 하다. 지금도 춘향은 끊임없이 우리와 관계하고 우리를 변화시키고 있고, 이에 따라 춘향에 대한 우리의 생각도 변화한다. 오늘날 우리에게는 <춘향전>이 이처럼 오랫동안 사람들에게 읽혀지고, 이념과 방법을 달리하는 남북한 모두에서 훌륭한 고전으로 평가되는 이유는 무엇일까를 규명해야 할 책임과 의무가 있다. 이것은 미래의 통일문화에 대한 실마리를 찾는 작업으로 이어질 수 있을 것이다. 남한에서의 <춘향전> 연구는 매우 활발하게 진행되어서 논문만도 300여 편이나 발표되었고, 장르 연구, 서지적 연구, 문학의 본질적 연구, 비교문학적 연구, 해석과 주석적 연구, 사상적 배경 연구, 판소리의 삽입가요 및 사설의 연구, 연구에 대한 연구 등 다양한 성과가 축적되어 왔다. 이에 비해 북한의 <춘향전> 연구 성과는 상대적으로 저조한 편이다. 연구 방법이 비교적 단일하고 자료의 축적이나 치밀한 고증에 소홀한 나머지, 눈에 띌만한 두드러진 연구들이 그리 많지 않은 형편이다. 그러나 북한에서는 <춘향전>을 3대 고전명작에서도 가장 훌륭한 작품으로 평가하면서 이본 연구, 형성과정과 시기, 주제 파악, 내용과 형식 등에서 한국과는 다른 견해들이 제기된 바 있다. 본고는 그동안 진행된 <춘향전> 연구에 대한 남북한의 성과들을 분야별로 종합적인 정리를 하고, 그 결과를 바탕으로 통일을 대비하여 <춘향전> 연구가 지향해야 할 바람직한 방향을 전망해 보았다. 이에 대해서 기왕의 단편적인 연구가 있었지만, 좀 더 넓은 분야에 걸쳐 심층적이고도 다양한 대비가 부족했다고 판단되기 때문이다. 연구 성과의 정리는 편의상 크게 문학외적인 연구와 문학 본질적 연구로 나누어서 살폈다. 전자는 다시 서지적 연구와 형성 배경 연구를 중심으로 하고, 후자는 주제와 인물의 연구, 문학적 평가 등으로 한정하였다.

Choonhyangjeon is a classic which is well-known to and best-loved by both South and North Korea. There may be no Korean people who do not know the classic although there are not many who read the original work at firsthand. It is now our responsibility and duty to define what makes the work so superb a classic for both South and North Koreans. This paper aims to arrange the South and North Korea's research accomplishment of Choonhyangjeon. It can be a seminal task to work out a clue to the future's unified culture which will overcome the present conditions of national division. In South Korea, the research of Choonhyangjeon has been very actively conducted, and almost 300 theses are already published. The research fields cover genre, bibliography, intrinsic study, comparative study, hermeneutics, inserted Pansori and Saseol, and studies on studies. In North Korea, the research has not been relatively active, and it is not easy to find outstanding studies since Norh Korea has been so simple in its research methodology and negligent in its accumulation of research data. However, North Korea considered Choonhyangjeon as one of top three classics, and has shown its evaluations different from South Korea's in the fields of versional difference, the period and process of making, themes, and the relation of content and form. The purpose of this paper is to arrange comprehensively the South and North Korea's accomplishment of the Choonhyangjeon research according to the study field, and to provide a desirable direction to the research in preparation for the reunification. That is because the past researches are relatively narrow in their perspectives, and need to be approached in depth in a variety of broader fields. The research accomplishments are arranged for convenience according as the studies are intrinsic or extrinsic. The extrinsic studies focus on bibliography and background of making, while the intrinsic studies on themes and characters.

Choonhyangjeon is a classic which is well-known to and best-loved by both South and North Korea. There may be no Korean people who do not know the classic although there are not many who read the original work at firsthand. It is now our responsibility and duty to define what makes the work so superb a classic for both South and North Koreans. This paper aims to arrange the South and North Korea's research accomplishment of Choonhyangjeon. It can be a seminal task to work out a clue to the future's unified culture which will overcome the present conditions of national division. In South Korea, the research of Choonhyangjeon has been very actively conducted, and almost 300 theses are already published. The research fields cover genre, bibliography, intrinsic study, comparative study, hermeneutics, inserted Pansori and Saseol, and studies on studies. In North Korea, the research has not been relatively active, and it is not easy to find outstanding studies since Norh Korea has been so simple in its research methodology and negligent in its accumulation of research data. However, North Korea considered Choonhyangjeon as one of top three classics, and has shown its evaluations different from South Korea's in the fields of versional difference, the period and process of making, themes, and the relation of content and form. The purpose of this paper is to arrange comprehensively the South and North Korea's accomplishment of the Choonhyangjeon research according to the study field, and to provide a desirable direction to the research in preparation for the reunification. That is because the past researches are relatively narrow in their perspectives, and need to be approached in depth in a variety of broader fields. The research accomplishments are arranged for convenience according as the studies are intrinsic or extrinsic. The extrinsic studies focus on bibliography and background of making, while the intrinsic studies on themes and characters.

Choonhyangjeon, Pansori, national division, extrinsic studies, intrinsic studies