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English(English) Article

Industrialization and Democratization; A Tumultuous Era - The Literature of Melancholy and Passion | LIST

About the Article

Article
http://old.list.or.kr/articles/article_view.htm?Div1=8&Idx=69
Journal
list_Books from Korea
Issued Date
-
Page
-
Language
English(English)
Country
SOUTH KOREA
City
Seoul
Book
-
Writer
Lee Mun Ku , Hwang Sok-yong , Park Wansuh , Choi In-ho , Cho Sehee

About the Author

  • LEE MUN KU
  • Birth : 1941 ~ 2003
  • Occupation : Novelist
  • First Name : Mun Ku
  • Family Name : Lee
  • Korean Name : 이문구
  • ISNI : 0000000025706254
  • Works : 14
Descriptions - 1 Languages
  • English(English)

Industrialization and Democratization; A Tumultuous Era - The Literature of Melancholy and Passion   By Kim Eun-ha on Oct 28 2014 00:32:41 Vol.2 Winter 2008 The 1970s was the most prolific period for novels in modern Korean history, as evidenced by the increase in the volume of publications, the emergence of problematic bestsellers, the revitalization of the literary media, and the high prestige of liter-ature during the decade. Above all, prominent writers like Park Wansuh, Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Mun Ku, Cho Se-Hui, and Choi Inho either entered the literary scene or published exceptional works. If the novel were a flower, this was a time when it was no longer a bud but reached full bloom. However, the 1970s was, in fact, also a strange, painful, and unfortunate period. Modernization was pursued under a mass mobilization system. While the country was able to step out of the shadow of extreme poverty, it failed to form a rational labor structure or lifestyle suitable for the ensuing economic changes. As a result of the rapid development under Park Chung-hee’s political leadership, state fetishism surged and the everyday world fell into ruin. Moreover, the Park Chung-hee administration’s project of national modernization was promoted in a totalitarian and paternalistic way after the emergence of the Yushin system (revitalizing reforms), and therefore ushered in a dark age of politics that utterly stifled modern liberation ideals like freedom, democracy, and benevolence. Owing to the anti-communist, authoritarian, growth-driven ideology at the time, combined with the “October Yushin,” the protagonists of the 1970s novels expressed an oppression and powerlessness akin to the sense of being crushed by monsters. However, the 1970s was also a time cohabitated by sorrow and hope, as well as depression and passion. Squirming behind the feelings of hysterical depression was a desire for freedom as well as a critical spirit resisting oppression and injustice. In the words of Kojin Karatani, “The novel was an expression standing in for political action in a time that rendered the latter impossible.” The novel was not the exclusive domain of literary youth but also a handbook of consciousness and a space of contemporary public dialogue for intellectuals.

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