Dehistoricization of the Literary Tradition in late 18th century to Early 20th Century Korea

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

The literary tradition of the Chosŏn (1392-1897) period persisted for a long time. There were disputes, from time to time, over philosophical and political interpretation on Neo-Confucianism and writing method, whether it should be written in literary Chinese or vernacular Korean. Nevertheless, the literary tradition hold out. However, when the literary tradition clashed with new thoughts, concepts, value, and literary genres, form, and style, cultural and literary transfiguration occurred. In this panel, four papers are presented discussing how these new aspects effected literary tradition.
Kim’s paper examines the literati’s encounters with Chinese popular fiction (new genre) and its impact on literati culture in the 18th century. Lee’s paper investigates how the narrative tradition of the Chosŏn has shifted from an emphasis on public duty to individual desire after the transmission the Gongan School (new value). Hwang’s paper focuses on the late 19th and early 20th century when the Japanese I-novel, autobiographies by Gandhi and Rousseau, and Catholic cultures and systems such as confession were introduced to Korea and became a turning point of literary practice in Korea which “produced” a new type of autobiography. Park’s paper argues that the reform-minded intellectuals during the early 1900s experienced a fundamental alienation from their intellectual past in order to integrate their native civilization with a new "universal" order of civilization and enlightenment. Through the four papers, we will have a glimpse of the “dehistoricization” of the literary tradition of Korea that was actualized.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Seung-Ah Lee, University of California, Los Angeles

Chair

• Seung-Ah Lee, University of California, Los Angeles

Individual Presentations

• Celebration of the Individuals: Transfiguration of Writing Practice in the Late Chosŏn - Seung-Ah Lee, University of California, Los Angeles

• Korean Literati Encounters with Chinese Popular Fiction in the 18th Century - Youme Kim, Korea University

• The Genealogy and Transfiguration of Korean Life-Writing/Self-Narrative - Jae-moon Hwang, Seoul National University

• Discontinuity and Alienation: The Preconditions of Cultural Hybridity in Confucian Reformism in Korea during the Early 1900s - Jong Woo Park, University of California, Los Angeles

Discussant

• Sangsoon Kang, Korean Institute, Korea University