Лекция курсы lecture 1 The Problems of the Lecture

The Modern Literature of Korea
The Literature of the Enlightenment Period

Korean modern literature was formed against the background of the crumbling feudalistic society of the Choson Dynasty, the importation of new ideas from the West, and the new political reality of rising Japanase imperial power in East Asia. The first stage in the estabilishment of Korea’s modern literature extends from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and is designated as the literature of the Enlightenment (kaehwa kyemong) period.

The change from traditional to modern literature during Enlightenment period was largely due to the effects of the New Education and the Korean Language and Literature movement. After Kabo Reforms of 1894, a new brand of education was enforced, new Western-style schools were established, and textbooks for teaching Western knowledge were published. The literature of the Enlightenment Period secured its social base through newly emerged media like newspapers. Most newspapers, including the Tongnip Shinmun (The Independent), Hwangsong Shinmun (The Imperial City Newspaper). Taehan maeil Shinbo (Korean Daily News), Cheguk Shinmun (The Korean People’s Report) all publishedserial novels, as well as shijo, and kasa. It was at this time that a class of professional writers also began to form. Commercial publishing of literary works became posible with the introduction of new printing techniques and the emergence of publishing companies.
In this period, the ch’angga (new type of song) and the shinch’eshi (new poetry) were hailed as the new poetic forms. They contributed greatly to the formation of the movern chayushi (free verse poem). Receiving their influence from free verse poetry, the shinch’eshi abandoned the fixed meter of traditional peotry, thus making new genres possible in poems like Ch’oe Nam-son’s Hae egeso sonyon ege (From the Sea to the Youth) (1908), Kkot tugo (Laying Down the Flowers) and T’aebaeksan shi (Poems of Mt. T’aebaeksan). But despite the novely of the new forms, there were also many instances where the poetic voice was politicized, a sharp contrast to the lyric poetry of ols, which gave primary expression to individual sentiment and feeling.
This period also saw the emergence of many biographical works based on enlightenment tastes, designed to cultivate patriotism and awaken the national consciousness. Representative works include, Aeguk puinjon (Tale of the Patriotic Lady) (Chang Ji-yon, 1907) and Elchi Mundok (Chin Ch’ae-ho, 1908). The biographies presented images of the kind of hero called for by the realities of the period. A Kuk-son’s Kumsu hoeuirok (Notes From the Meeting of the Birds and Beasts) (1908) is the representative of this kind of work: it centers around the orations of animals who criticize the human world’s moral depravity.
While a professional class of writers began to be formed by men like Yi In-jik, Yi Hae-cho, Ch’oe Ch’an-shik and Kim Ko-je, a new literary form called the shinsosol (new novel) secured a popular readership base. Yi In-jik’s Hyoluinu (Tears of Blood) (1906) and Ensegye (The Silver World) (1908), were followed by Yi Hae-cho’s Kumagon (The Demon-Ousting Sword) and Chayujong (The Freedom Bell). Ch’oe Ch’an-shi’s Ch’uwolsaek (The Color of the Autumn Moon) (1912) is also a well-known work. The shinsosol, all written in Han-gul, achieved mass popularity. These novels portrayed Enlightenment ideals against the background of the realisties contemporary life, and the unrealistic, transcendental words of old are not found in their plots. It was in the shinsosol that “time reversal” was first applied as a structural technique. The authors also adopted a vernacular prose style that brought them closer to the form of the modern novel. However, in the wake of the Japanese tekeover of Korean in 1910, the character of the shinsosol began to change. The later works gave more weight to the fates of individual characters, and commonplace love-struggles became more prominent.