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영어

Park Keon Hoe is one of the most active persons in the publishing of classic novels in the 1910s. Accordingly, through him, we can see the meanings and limitations of classic novels in cultural history during his days, which were a transitional period of Korean history. Park Keon Hoe published a total of around 50 novels. The novels published by him were mostly popular works among readers in the Chosun Dynasty. However, he published them in printed books by applying a unique editing method. This was advantageous in that more information could be conveyed to readers. Many of books published by him were stories and Chinese novels. He did not publish important works including novels related to Pansori. This fact suggests that his efforts were concentrated on the delivery of edificatory values and his activities were deeply influenced by Chinese culture. A meaning of Park Keon Hoe’s publishing activities is that he tried to find a contact point between print media and the elements of oral culture. Moreover, he took notice of new classes of readers brought by the development of printing technology and the mass distribution of books, and rediscovered the existence of the readers. Despite his efforts as such, however, readers’ response was not as high as expected probably because he adhered to his cultural background.