본 연구에서 진행한 생애사 쓰기는 글 속에 서술 대상의 생애와 서술 대상을 바라보는 서술자의 시선이 함께 담기는 것에 초점을 두었다. 글의 전체적인 틀을 ‘기억-시선-현재’로 정하여, ‘기억’에는 서술 대상의 생애를, ‘시선’에는 서술자를 포함한 주변인들이 서술 대상을 바라보는 관점을, ‘현재’에는 서술자와 서술 대상자의 현재를 다루도록 안내하였다. 서술자의 삶과 서술 대상의 연결고리를 찾아 한 편의 글을 완성하기까지 글쓰기 과정에 미치는 다양한 요인들을 관찰 기록하였으며 쓰기 결과물, 인터뷰 자료 등을 분석하였다. 본 연구에서는 ‘이야기 정체성’과 ‘자기돌봄’에 주목하여 생애사 쓰기의 의의를 찾아보았다. 우선 서술자가 서술 대상에 대한 이야기를 다루면서 동시에 자신의 문제를 극복해 나가는 것을 관찰할 수 있었는데, 이야기의 대상이 ‘나’에서 ‘어르신’으로 전환하는 과정들을 통해 서술자와 서술 대상의 이야기 정체성을 발견할 수 있었다. 또한 언어와 기억을 상실해 가고 있는 서술 대상의 삶이 서술자의 이야기를 통해 정체성을 회복해 나가는 의미 있는 과정을 확인할 수 있었다. 다음으로 서술자가 대상과의 관계를 통해 자기 자신에게 집중하는 ‘자기 돌봄’과 치유의 의미를 찾아볼 수 있었다. 서술자는 서술 대상을 통해 회피하거나 돌아보지 못했던 자신의 모습을 마주하고 자신이 맺고 있는 관계와 자신에 대해 알아가는 의미 있는 경험을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구에서 제시하고 있는 생애사 쓰기 논의가 향후 노인 생애사 쓰기, 인터뷰를 활용한 글쓰기 프로그램 마련에 활용될 수 있기를 기대해 본다.

In this study, the significance of writing a life history was investigated through the Writing the Elderly’s Life History program conducted at Gyeongsangbuk-do Nursing Home. For the study, interviews were conducted for about 20 hours; three graduate students majoring in humanities counseling were the interviewers while three elderly people were the interviewees. The writing was conducted through continuous consultation while organizing the interview contents. The writing of the life histories conducted in this study included both the life of the narrative subject and the narrator’s perspective of the narrative subject in the writing. The overall frame of the writing was set as memory-present-view; the life of the narrative subject was to be written in the memory section; the perspective of surrounding people including the narrator looking at the narrative subject was to be written in the view section; and the present status of the narrator and the narrative subject was to be covered in the present section. Various factors affecting the writing process from finding a connecting link between the narrator’s life and the narrative subject to completing the piece of writing were observed and recorded while the writing results and interview materials were analyzed. In this study, the significance of writing a life history was examined through factors of the subjects’ ‘narrative identity’ and ‘self-care’. First, the narrators could be observed overcoming their own problems through dealing with the story of the narrative subject. This resulted in the subjects’ finding their narrative identity and the narrative subject’s identity through the process of converting the narrative subject from ‘I’ to ‘the elderly subject’. In addition, it was possible to confirm a meaningful process in which the narrative subject, who had been losing language and memory, recovered their identity through the story of narrator. Next, through their relationship with the narrative subject, the narrator was able to tend to their own self-care and healing, focusing on her/himself. Through the narrative subject, the narrator could confirm the significant experience of getting to know themselves and the relationship they had established by encountering their own, previously avoided or ignored self-image. The discussion on writing a life history presented in this study can be expected to be used to prepare writing programs for the elderly and lifelong education programs for writing in the future.