EAS333H1

Modernism and Colonial Korea

This course considers the problem of colonial modernism through a close reading of literary and cultural texts from early 20th-century Korea. It asks what it means to enter modernity under colonial rule, and questions the relationship between imperialism, writing, and subjectivity. Topics include the role of literature in elaborating new concepts of subjectivity, literature and the fine arts as assimilatory practices, the emergence of urban space and reconfiguration of notions of the rural, and changing notions of time and space in the cultural products of nativism. Readings of literary works will be accompanied by showings of paintings and photographs from the period, as well as discussions of theoretical essays on modernism.