ASIA 357

Introduction to Modern Korean Literature

Term 2, 2014-2015, Buchanan B313
Instructor: Bruce Fulton, Department of Asian Studies
Office: Asian Centre 216
Office telephone: 822-6145
Email: fultonb@mail.ubc.ca (weekdays)
bruceedu@gmail.com (weekends)
Office hours: Tuesday, 5-6; Wednesday, 1-2
Required Texts (available from UBC Bookstore)
A Ready-Made Life: Early Masters of Modern Korean Fiction (RL)
Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology (MKL)
The Red Room: Stories of Trauma in Contemporary Korea (RR)
Waxen Wings: The Acta Koreana Anthology of Short Fiction From Korea (WW)
I will email you the remaining readings according to the Required Reading schedule below.
Optional Texts
Land of Exile: Contemporary Korean Fiction (available from UBC Bookstore)
Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers (available from instructor)
Course Requirements
Class participation: 20% of final grade
Weekly quizzes: 20% of final grade
Midterm exam: 30% of final grade
Final exam: 30% of final grade
For Extra Credit
1. 15-minute oral report focusing on a single author and discussing:
(a) his or her major works (apart from assigned readings)
(b) his or her distinctive characteristics
(c) various approaches to reading author and works
(d) authors significance in modern Korean literature
class presentation to be accompanied by a one-page single-spaced outline
2. 15-minute performance (involving music, dance, spoken word) focusing on one of the themes in the
course readings or inspired by one of the course readings
3. term paper
(a) may focus on a single author, a theme, or on literary genres not covered in class, such as drama or
anecdotal essays (supil)
(b) minimum of 15 pages double-spaced (about 3750 words)
4. creative writing: short fiction, poetry, memoir, drama, based on one of the themes in the course readings
(minimum of 15 pages double-spaced)
Classroom Etiquette
1. Please turn off and stow cell phones before class.
2. Please keep laptops closed during class.
3. Please take care of bathroom needs before class.
Class Participation
The class participation component of your final grade consists equally of your physical presence in class (=
10 percent of your final grade) and your contribution to the class (= 10 percent of your final grade) in any
or all of the following ways:

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1.
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3.
1.
2.
3.

Discussion in class
Responses to the required readings (a) by email, (b) in the form of a written journal, or (c) during
my office hours
Your preparedness for and participation in small-group discussions
Quizzes and Exams
Each Tuesday class will start with a quiz covering the assigned readings for that week (that is,
Tuesdays class and Thursdays class). I will drop your lowest quiz score when I calculate your
final grade for the course.
If you know you will be absent for class on a quiz day (Tuesday), you have the option of
completing the weekly quiz in my office BEFORE class; you may not complete the weekly quiz
after class.
If for any reason you need to reschedule the midterm exam or the final exam, you must likewise
notify me BEFORE the date of the exam (and the more advance notice you give me, the better). If
you miss the midterm exam or the final exam, for whatever reason, without giving me advance
notice, you earn a zero on the exam.

Class Schedule
January 6
Approaches to Reading Modern Korean Literature
January 8
Beginnings of Modern Korean Literature
Realism in Early-Modern Fiction
January 13
Chng Chi-yong, Kim Sowl, S Chng-ju, Han Yong-un
January 15
The New Woman and Changing Gender Roles
January 20
The Plight of the Intellectual
January 22
Yi Sang, Pak Tae-wn, and Modernism
January 27
Retreat to the Countryside: Yi Hyo-sk and Kim Yu-jng
January 29
Chae Man-shik
February 3
Kim Tong-ni
February 5
Hwang Sun-wn
February 10
Konggan Literature
February 12
Wlbuk Writers and Literature in North Korea

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February 24
Midterm exam question 1
February 26
Midterm exam question 2
March 3
The Literature of the Korean War
March 5
The Hangl Generation: Kim Sng-ok and Ch'oe In-ho
March 10
O Chng-hi: Nameless Narrators and Fractured Families
March 12
The Literature of Ideas: Yi Chng-jun and Yi Mun-yl
March 17
Pak Wan-s: The Auntie Next Door
March 19
The Literature of Social Engagement
Oral report 1
March 24
Trauma Literature
Oral report 2
March 26
Intertextuality in Visual Culture
Oral report 3
March 31
Kijichon Fiction
Oral report 4
April 2
Contemporary Womens Writing
Oral report 5
April 7
Contemporary Mens Fiction
Oral report 6
Required Reading
January 6
Hwang Sun-wn, "Snow" (handout)
Introduction, in RL
Introduction, in WW
Introduction, in MKL
January 8
Choe Nam-sn, excerpt from From the Sea to the Children (email)
Kevin ORourke, "The Korean Short Story of the 1920s and Naturalism (email)

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Kim Tongin, Potatoes, in MKL
Ym Sang-sp, "The Rotary Press," in RL
Hyn Chin-gn, "Home" (email)
January 13
Introduction to Looking for the Cow (email)
Chng Chi-yong, poems (email)
Kim Sowl, poems (email)
S Chng-ju, poems (email)
Han Yong-un, poems (email)
January 15
Chu Yo-sp, Mama and the Boarder, in RL
Yung-Hee Kim, Womens Issues in 1920s Korea (email)
Kim Wn-ju, Awakening (email)
Choe Chng-hi, The Haunted House, in RL
January 20
Hyn Chin-gn, A Society That Drives You to Drink, in RL
Chae Man-shik, A Ready-Made Life, in RL
January 22
Yi Sang, Wings (email)
Yi Sang, Phantom Illusion, in RL
Yi Sang, poems (email)
Pak Tae-wn, The Barbershop Boy, in MKL
Pak Tae-wn, The Man Who Ran the Fragrant Orchid Caf (email)
January 27
Yi Hyo-sk, When the Buckwheat Blooms, in RL
Yi Hyo-sk, In the Mountains, in WW
Kim Yu-jng, Wife, in RL
Kim Yu-jng, The White Rabbit, in MKL
January 29
Chae Man-shik, My Innocent Uncle, in MKF
Chae Man-shik, Mister Pang (email)
February 3
Kim Tong-ni, A Descendant of the Hwarang, in RL
Kim Tong-ni, The Shaman Painting, in MKL
February 5
Hwang Sun-wn, The Mule, in RL
Hwang Sun-wn, Coarse Sand, in MKL
February 10
Chae Man-shik, Constable Maeng, in WW
Hwang Sun-wn, The Dog of Crossover Village (email)
February 12
Marshall Pihl, Engineers of the Human Soul, pp. 63-81 (email)
Han Srya, Jackals (email)
Kim Pukhyang, The Son, in MKL
Hong Sk-jung, excerpt from Hwang Chin-i (email)

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March 3
Chang Yong-hak, Poems of John the Baptist (email)
O Sang-wn, A Few Moments Grace (email)
March 5
Kim Sng-ok, Seoul: 1964, Winter, in MKL
Choe In-ho, Another Mans Room, in MKL
March 10
O Chng-hi, The Toyshop Woman (email)
O Chng-hi, Weaver Woman, in WW
O Chng-hi, Wayfarer, in MKF
March 12
Yi Chng-jun, The Prophet (email)
Yi Mun-yl, An Anonymous Island (email)
Yi Mun-yl, The Old Hatter, in MKF
March 17
Pak Wan-s, In the Realm of the Buddha, in RR
Pak Wan-s, We Teach Shame! in WW
Pak Wan-s, Mothers Hitching Post, in MKF
March 19
Yi Ki-yng, A Tale of Rats, in RL
Yi Hochl, Far From Home, in MKL
Cho Sehi, Knifeblade, in MKL
March 24
Im Chr-u, The Red Room, in RR
O Chng-hi, Spirit on the Wind, in RR
March 26
Pak Chi-yun, Adult Ceremony (), music video (YouTube)
Yun Tae-ho, selection from Moss ()(email)
March 31
Bruce Fulton, Kijichon Fiction (email)
Kang Sk-kyng, Days and Dreams (email)
Heinz Insu Fenkl, selections from Memories of My Ghost Brother (email)
Nicky Sa-Eun Schildkraut, four poems (email)
April 2
Pyn Hye-yng, Corpses, in WW
Ha Sng-nan, Waxen Wings, in WW
Kim Sagwa, This Is One of Those the-More-I-Move-the-Weirder-It-Gets Days and It Really Blows My
Mind (email)
Seven Feminist Poems (email)
April 7
Kim Taeyong, Pig on Grass (online)
Kim Yng-ha, Lizard, in MKF
Kim Yng-ha, The Pager, in WW
Kim Chung-hyk, The Glass Shield, in WW