3 results
23 - Late twentieth-century fiction by men
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- By Kwŏn Yŏngmin, Professor of Modern Korean Literature Seoul National University
- Edited by Peter H. Lee, University of California, Los Angeles
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- Book:
- A History of Korean Literature
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 18 December 2003, pp 468-480
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Summary
Although Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the country faced national division due to its inability to overcome ideological contention and conflict. The tragic experience of colonialism was relived through fiction that critically examined the humiliating circumstances of the time. Fiction also established a new direction for life within the “liberation space” (haebang konggan) – the space between colonial liberation and the beginning of the Korean War. During the post-liberation period, creative practices centered on assigning meaning to the new life and understanding the social conditions and demands that accompanied the new freedom from colonialism. Most fictional works focused on realism by problematizing the notion of understanding reality.
FICTION DURING THE “LIBERATION SPACE”
Among the works published during the post-liberation period that hold significant historical weight are those that appropriated the colonial experience into the fictional realm and examined it critically. In Pak Chonghwa's Ch'ŏngch'un sŭngni (Youth's Victory, 1949), Pak Nogap's Sasimnyŏn (Forty Years, 1948), and An Hoenam's “P'okp'ung ŭi yŏksa” (“Tumultuous History,” 1947), the authors describe colonial experience with a critical eye. Realistic portrayals in fictional works within the space of liberation are embodied in Kye Yongmuk's “Pyŏl ŭl henda” (“Counting the Stars,” 1946), Chi Haryŏn's “Tojŏng” (“Journey,” 1946), Hŏ Chun's Chandŭng (Lamplight, 1948), Yi Kŭngyŏng's “T'angnyusogŭl kanŭn Pak kyosu” (“Professor Pak who Walks the Muddy Stream,” 1948), Yŏm Sangsŏp's “Ihap” (“Meeting and Parting,” 1948), Hwang Sunwŏn's “Sul iyagi” (“Liquor Story,” 1946), Ch'oe Chŏnghŭi's “P'ungnyu chap'inŭn maŭl” (“Landowner Sŏ's Birthday Celebration,” 1947), and Pak Yŏngjun's “Kohyang ŏmnŭn saram” (“People without Hometowns,” 1947).
25 - Literature of North Korea
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- By Kwŏn Yŏngmin, Professor of Modern Korean Literature Seoul National University
- Edited by Peter H. Lee, University of California, Los Angeles
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- Book:
- A History of Korean Literature
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 18 December 2003, pp 497-511
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Summary
As the division between North and South Korea hardened in the period following the country's liberation from Japan's colonial rule in 1945, North Korea set forth a number of objectives designed to ensure the establishment of a socialist polity in the North. The construction of socialist culture was one such objective – and literature, as an integral part of this culture, was to play a prominent role in the concerted effort to pursue class-based socialist ideology. The term “literature of North Korea” refers to literature based on such an objective since 1945. The development of North Korean literature, therefore, reflects changes that were taking place in North Korean society and politics. The period from the liberation to the early 1960s was marked by an emphasis on the duty of literature, as the artistic realization of socialist ideology, to serve party and people. For the North Korean government, the paramount goal that emerged through a sequence of experiences – the liberation, the Korean War, and the division of the Korean peninsula – was the establishment of a socialist order. For the accomplishment of this goal, literature became the central tool in rallying support for this aim and in the consolidation of socialist ideology in North Korean society.
From the mid-1960s, however, North Korean literature came increasingly to focus on the chuch'e (self-reliance, autonomy) thought of Kim Ilsŏng as the ideological basis for literary production.
19 - Early twentieth-century fiction by men
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- By Kwŏn Yŏngmin, Professor of Modern Korean Literature Seoul National University
- Edited by Peter H. Lee, University of California, Los Angeles
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- Book:
- A History of Korean Literature
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 18 December 2003, pp 390-405
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Summary
Modern Korean fiction was formed in the historical context of the new Western world order and the heightened sense of national independence that followed the breakup of the traditional Chosŏn society. The enlightenment and education movements were quite active during the first stage (mid-nineteenth to early twentieth centuries) of modern Korean literary history. Literary works of this period show dramatic change. The central characteristic was the formation of a vernacular literature influenced by the new movements. As Chinese literary influence declined, various literary forms using the Korean language expanded to the masses through newspapers such as the Independent (Tongnip shinmun), Capital Gazette (Hwangsŏng sinmum), Korea Daily News (Taehan maeil sinbo), Imperial Post (Cheguk shinmun), Independence News (Mansebo), and Korea People's Press (Taehan minbo). Another new movement urged writers to criticize contemporary reality and express enlightenment consciousness.
BIOGRAPHIES OF HEROES
Before any other narrative form of the enlightenment and education movements, we must discuss biography. Above all biography reflected a strong social consciousness that resisted foreign influence and sought independence. Biographies of the time offered the ideal heroic types that contemporary Korean society hungered for.
Aeguk puinjŏn (Life of a Patriotic Woman, 1907) by Chang Chiyŏn (1864–1921) depicted the life of Joan of Arc. Although the protagonist was the daughter of a poor peasant family, she participated in the struggle against foreign invaders. The main motivation for writing this work was to present a model of a heroine that appealed to patriotic feeling among Korean women.