엄익란 연구원, 코리아타임즈와 인터뷰

GCC국가연구소의 엄익란 연구원이 ' Female authors write down vanishing Middle Eastern folktales'(여성 작가들이 사라져가는 중동 민담을 기록한다)라는 제목의 코리아타임즈 기사에 대해 인터뷰를 진행했다.

(인터뷰 일부 기사 발췌)

Eum Ik-ran, a research professor of Dankook University’s Gulf Cooperation Council Institute, said documentation of folklore and oral literature is necessary to preserve literary heritage in the Middle East. This is because, otherwise, much of it would be forgotten as time goes by, she noted.

“Unlike in Korea or Western society, in the Middle East, literary culture is mainly based on oral traditions,” she said. “People there like hearing stories more than reading. They are also encouraged to recite, so stories have been passed down from one generation to the next, mainly through oral storytelling and recitations.”

Eum said the role of female writers in the transformation of the Middle East is one of the less-covered academic topics. “There certainly existed female writers in the pre-modern Middle East,” she said. “Some of them used pennames, not their real names, so it’s hard to figure out whether the authors of certain publications are male or female. Middle Eastern writers used pennames, especially when they addressed serious social issues in their books.”

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