ASIAN 3324 - Modern and Contemporary Korean Literature

(GB) (LA-AS, ALC-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

I. Yi.

This course examines major writers, works, and developments in modern Korean literature from the early twentieth century to the present. Beginning with the cultural transition from the end of the Chosŏn dynasy to the Japanese colonial period, we will cover Korean writers and literary production under the Japanese empire, Liberation, the Korean War, postwar industrialization and democratization. We will consider how social issues such as class, gender, sexuality, race, migration, and the environment factor into literary constructions of the self, community, and nation. The course integrates creative writing workshops to illuminate the process of literary composition and deepen analytical engagement. Theoretical frameworks are provided with which to interpret Korean literature in a transnational and global context, including (post)colonial criticism, feminist criticism, and ecocriticism. Readings for the course will be in English or in English translation and no prior knowledge of Korea is required. (LL)