2016, Vol.30, No.

The Way to (Please Look After)Mom - The Mother Figure in the Modern Korean Novel and Her Potential -

Yoo Bo Sun | 2016, 30 | pp.7~41 | number of Cited : 2

The interest readers all over the world have shown for works such as Please Look after Mom and The Vegetariansuggests that the study of Korean literature needs to transform too. Our study should now focus on positioning Korean literature within the context of the history of world literature. To this end, the most urgent task is to find traditions unique to Korean literature that can be recorded as a new voice in the literary history of the world. What we need to pay attention to at this point is the mother figure in Korean literature because it is a decidedly strange phenomenon in Korean novels written in and after the 1970s. The first notable mother figure in Korean literature is the mother who appears in the division literature of the 1970s. These mothers are generally characterized as a “two-faced mother.” Their husbands cannot return home because of the Korean War and so they have to raise their children by themselves. Naturally, they have to perform the functions of both mother and father at the same time and as a result are “two-faced.” They faithfully play the part of the mother who nurses her children and at the same time carry out the function of the father who disciplines them in strict principles of reality. She displays an ambivalent attitude by vehemently criticizing the children’s father as she has to earn a living in the cold barter economy while elevating him into a subject of reverence to instill self-esteem in the children. The mother in the novels of the 1970s is portrayed as an enigmatic figure who simultaneously plays the role of her son’s lover while also being a source of castration anxiety. The next mother figure that appears in Korean novels is the “mother beaten and abandoned by the father.” As women writers appeared on the literary scene in the mid-1990s, the feminist gaze took center stage and these women writers created a new mother figure. Through this mother figure, on one hand the women writers of this period criticize the strong phallocentric order of Korean society that has long been in existence while on the other they refuse to dream of “sterile love,” or even if they love, refuse to “become a mother.” The third mother figure to appear in Korean novels is the “mother as ghost.” Kyung-sook Shin who has long been interested in mothers who sacrificed themselves in the path of rapid industrialization draws the mother of that age as a ghost. The mother of Please Look After Momis a noble figure who has readily done her duty as wife and mother for the happiness of her husband and children and also has done her best for her own happiness. However, the family does not fully realize the true meaning of that mother when she is alive and only discover her value when she goes missing. In the end, the mother escapes everyone’s notice while alive, with her true meaning being recognized only after she passes away. Through this mother figure that is a ghost both when dead or alive, Please Look After Momrealistically portrays how global capitalization has corrupted modern people and turned them into fetishistic beings while at the same time offering the morality of “motherhood” as the power that can overcome this.

Birth of Tragedy: ‘Toji’ and motherhood

Park, Suk Ja | 2016, 30 | pp.43~71 | number of Cited : 2

Reproduce and Distribute of Maternal Discourses - A Study on the Novel “Please Look after Mom” by Shin Kyung - sook.

Taekho Kim | 2016, 30 | pp.73~97 | number of Cited : 6

This study examines the process of how maternal discourses are reproduced and distributed in Korean society through the novel “Please Look after Mom” by Shin Kyung-sook. As widely known through more than a few studies, since the mid-19th century in Europe and the early 20th century in Korea, maternal discourses have been composed and distributed under the influence of nationalism. Most Koreans understand maternal instinct is either women’s basic instinct or nature. Thus, the attitude of a woman, who sacrifices for home and considers and acts on children’s education as the most important duty in her life, deserves compliments, or is the subject of admiration. The Korean novel “Please Look after Mom” follows such a sentiment of the general public. The format of the work not only utilizes the viewpoints of the children and husband who benefited from sacrificing Mom Park So-nyeo but also fortifies such a content of the novel. The portrayal of Mom described in “Please Look after Mom” is hard for ordinary people to put into practice. To take things that are hard to practice for given such a duty. In that regard, the admiration about Mom which “Please Look after Mom” depicts reproduces maternal discourses oppressing women. The problem is, such a novel “Please Look after Mom” is a popular work. A collective memory has settled in where maternity is taken for granted and deemed holy; people are told educational effects and moving stories on maternal love, or they felt own maternal instinct were all combined. Centering on various representations, a collective memory is usually maintained and transmitted. If there is a representation, it means there is also content. The subject that embraces the message of the representation becomes the subject of the memory, and their shared ideas become the content of the memory. A literary work, too, can often become an important representation of such a collective memory. The popularity of “Please Look after Mom” shows that the influence of a collective memory about maternity is vast. The problem is, a collective memory often buries individuals that deserve to be the subject of awareness into conventions. That is the limit of “Please Look after Mom” carrying a collective memory called maternity.

A presentation aspect and meaning of the Maternal instinct in Female folk song

choi ja-un | 2016, 30 | pp.99~124 | number of Cited : 2

Study on tale of Yangsaun's mother - on tale of mother's self sacrifice -

Chung Kyungmin | 2016, 30 | pp.125~151 | number of Cited : 1

Yangsaun was writer known as one of the 4 major calligrapher in Chosun dynasty. It is interesting that he lived as noble man with administrative position remembered as concubines son in tale. The story on his status was conveyed in literature narrative featured as main narrative is on mother of Yangsaun. This thesis zeroed in on principles and meaning of narrative on mothers' self sacrifice illustrating that mother of Yangsaun accomplished son's ascent of status featured as main character of literature narrative. Mother of Yangsaun have been transmitted in several literature narrative such as 『 Tale Kyseo 』, 『 Tale Chunggu 』, 『 Kimun chongwha 』. The story of Yangsaun ascended to nobleman from concubines son due to effort of mother was transmitted as overall type of cleverness and self-determined based on tendency of effort by mother. Type of cleverness shows sons status ascended with intervention of king influenced by wisdom, foresight and intuition originated from general virtuousness and intelligence of mother of Yangsaun. This illustrates maternal instinct influencing as problem solver in relatively unrealistic aspect. On the other hand, the death of Yangsaun's mother was the best measure as powerless women in social structure and humble status not to reveal his son's status of concubines son in the type of self-determined. Drastic and active self sacrifice action of mother of Yangsaun shows sorrowful maternal affection. The issue of concubines son was very serious in 16th century Yangsaun lived and status of Yangsaun was extreme deficiency and firm alert. Mother of Yangsaun showed identity of women in noble family and she was eager to ascend her own status as well as ascent of status of her son. And her desire for ascent of status naturally had spread to her son. The tale of Yangsaun's mother demonstrates sacrifice of mother for offspring even in the era of absence of ideological formation of maternal instinct. This tale is characteristic by the fact that self sacrifice by mother for offspring is not common in tales inherent confucian value. Self sacrifice of Yangsaun's mother was individual determination to overcome social restraint of caste. system. She demonstrated the possibility of self realization by overcoming fear of death as human being in determining self sacrifice by independent decision. She became of noble woman through ascent of status of her son as a result. This is the prototype of realization of mothers' ambition by projecting her goals to offspring.

The Story of Manchuria and the memory of Yun Dong - ju

Kim Shin Jung | 2016, 30 | pp.155~197 | number of Cited : 16

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This paper aims to examine how ‘the story of Yun Dong-ju’ is transferred to ‘the story of Manchuria’, especially ‘Manchuria’ as a tool to recompose the memories of him, while focusing on the way that the Korean society remembers him. The story of Yun Dong-ju, who was born in “the cradle of the Korean independence movement”, illustrates him as one who was considered the icon of the history of the movement and regards him in the context of “resistance.” However, it is often neglected that Yun Dong-ju was a ‘marginal man’ who constantly stood aside from the boundary of a nation-state, raising the questions on it, and distinctly took the problems of this marginality in account if we remember him as “the star in the dark age” – resistance poet, patriotic poet, and nationalist poet. In fact, Yun Dong-ju situated himself outside the boundary and continually crossed the distinction between two cultures, while being aware of the marginality. Gando, the area in Southern Manchuria where he was born and raised, has also to do with why he was sensitive to the issue of ‘marginality’. His birth place is the method to lead him to observing the issue of marginality because Gando was the part of the territory of the Japanese Empire and also it was his hometown, but located outside of Joseon, his motherland. Yun Dong-ju was able to observe the status of Joseon objectively because he was outside the boundary. Later, he understood his true identity which was confusing at first and recognized the complex conditions of Gando by leaving from the place and being outside of Japan and Joseon. He lived his life as a descendant of an immigrant and constantly crossed the boundary among three cultures. Therefore, his poems describe the discomfort of living in “other country” with foreigners and often reflect his anxiety and concern as a noncitizen. This paper proves that the Korean society’s nationalist perspective on Yun Dong-ju’s literature, and how his literary works are perceived and comprehended in the society was the result of composing the past discourses, which was the partial understanding of him.

Absence and Existence - Kim Jong - sam's Poetic Ontology

Park, Seon-young | 2016, 30 | pp.199~226 | number of Cited : 0

Study on the Consciousness of Extinction in Hong Yun - suk's Later Works

김인경 | 2016, 30 | pp.227~266 | number of Cited : 1

In this study, the fundamental poetic consciousness of Hong Yun-suk's later works is defined as a consciousness of extinction. This consciousness of extinction is conceived from the anxiety and physical pain of the poetic subject who is becoming closer to death. Through inner anxiety and physical pain, the poetic subject senses the approaching death, which in turn leads the poetic subject to experience a deconstruction and loss of self-identity. The sense of impotence is amplified, intersperse with existential pain and anxiety, and the poet's inner struggle to overcome the despair is carried out by writing poetry. The poetic writing of Hong is both a means of self-healing in which a poetic introspection is involved, and an earnest manifestation of the inner determination to dispel the anxiety about death. In order to explain the ontological basis of Hong's later works, this study takes a phenomenological approach and explore the intentionality that lies deeply beneath the poetic images. After extracting the images that repeatedly appear in these works and classifying the images according to their organic relationships, the author further develops the discussion focusing on the revelation of the direction taken by the internal movement embodied through the repeatedly occurring images. As a result, it is found that the poetic subject's consciousness of extinction is embodied in the images of ‘wind,’ ‘darkness,’ and ‘light.’ The image of ‘wind’ occurs as a self-representation of the poet herself, a mortal being. The image of ‘darkness’ signifies the pain felt by a being connected to the physical senses. The image of ‘light’ operates as the core mechanism in offsetting the images of negative meanings and revealing the poetic subject's determination to regain its self-identity. Through using the images of ‘wind,’ ‘darkness,’ and ‘light’ to construct an image of her own life, the poet creates an introspective sense of distance against the deconstruction and loss of self.

A comparative study of South Korea and Chinese foreign literature education - Focused on the works of Alphonse Daudet in Korean/Chinese middle school language textbooks

Lee Jungsuk | 2016, 30 | pp.267~302 | number of Cited : 4

The following study aims to explain the educational goals and the aligning educational contents of South Korea and China by comparing foreign texts included in Korean/Chinese language textbooks of both countries. Firstly, the reason why Korean and Chinese textbooks differ in their inclusion of foreign texts is can be explained by the difference in attitudes towards translated foreign literature, and the difference in educational goals of both countries, which is in turn based on differing views regarding literature of the two countries. Examing the new educational programs of Korean/Chinese language courses, China is focused on Socialism tailored with Chinese characteristics, and recognizes the importance of diversity and creativity, as to fit the changing global situation. On the other hand, Korean language education is changing as to emphasize the concrete properties the Korean language has. However both do not possess separate plans for foreign literature education which take into account the distinctive characteristics of foreign pieces. French writers most commonly appear in both countries' textbooks. 'La Dernière Classe' by Alphonse Daudet, contained in Chinese textbooks, is used as a typical way of enhancing patriotism, which is a major doctrine of the Communist party of China. The educational goal of China can be inferred from this. South Korea previously followed the same path of China by including 'La Dernière Classe'. However the piece currently included is 'Le Secret de maître Cornille', by the same author. This piece was included as to equip students with different methodologies and principles used for interpreting in various perspectives. Chinese language education focuses on the need for comparative independence from national politics and diversified reading. Korean language education also focuses on reading foreign pieces of literature to experience alien methods of thought and emotional structure, and the need to aim for universality. The globalized era in which various countries and cultures co-exist, there is need for understanding of different countries and cultures. Cultural exchange by means of reading foreign literature contributes to global literature, as well as enriching the literature culture one is in. Through the results of the following study, it is expected that there be arranged revisions and suggestions regarding foreign literature education, and this contributes to literature education of both countries.

A Study on Shim Sangkyu's collected letters "Dusilcheogdog"

KANG HYESUN | 2016, 30 | pp.303~327 | number of Cited : 2

A study of Comparison to Chunhyangjion(春香傳) and Seosangkie(西廂記) - Focusing on characters and subject consciousness -

Li, Jie | 2016, 30 | pp.329~373 | number of Cited : 1

The article focuses on Chunhyangjion and Seosangkie and discusses the character images and t he subject consciousness in their respective work, further analyses distinctions and similarities on culture between Korea and China. The result indicated both of Chunhyang and Yingying were traditional woman, earnestness heavy feeling. The difference of character image is striking in these two works. The image of Chunhyang was shaped as real women, hard on the outside, yet hard on the inside. But the image of Yingying was shaped as women, soft on the outside, yet hard on the inside. In Seosangkie, Li Daoling and Zhangsheng both came from aristocratic family, and were depicted as persistent man forlove. However, Li Daoling has shaped a positive public image in the hearts of the people and his attitude towards marriage also has been considered to mature. In contrast, Zhangsheng has been portrayed as a pure and persistent man for love. In these two works, a consciousness that is from characters was presented to us, which is expressed as kind of love. The marriage was also considered to base on this love. When this love carries on awakening and cleansing, it tends to disregard the status or position and can defy observation from feudal system. Therefore, the notions of purity that was considered as the face of love have been imprinted in Chunhyang and Yingying' sheads. In their view, about the belief in their hearts for notions of purity hasn’t violate any concepts in the feudal system, on the desire and behavior, because longing for love, they were thought to be positive and energetic. In short, Chunhyangjion and Seosangkie reflected really society condition of that time and were also believed to holdpopulace, especially progressive’ sexpectations for the future. The analysis results could be of considerable significance in the field of love story.

The aspects and meaning of the ‘Gyehu conflicts in <Kuraegongjeongchungjikjeolgi(寇萊公貞忠直節記)>

장흔 | 2016, 30 | pp.375~400 | number of Cited : 2

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2016, Vol.30, No.