Global Perspectives on Korean Literature (eBook)

Preface 6
Contents 10
List of Figures 13
Chapter 1: The King Midas Tale in Ancient Korea 16
1.1 Diffusions of the Midas Tale into Ancient Korea 18
1.2 Similarities Between the Two Tales 23
1.3 Differences Between the Two Tales 26
1.4 Significances of the Royal Ears 28
1.5 Conclusion 31
References 32
Chapter 2: W. Arthur Noble’s Ewa: An Intergeneric Novel 34
2.1 Ewa as a Missionary Novel 36
2.2 Ewa as a Bildungsroman 40
2.3 Ewa as a Novel of Manners 43
2.4 Ewa as a Postmodern Novel 48
2.5 Ewa as a Repository of Historical Occurrences in Korea 49
2.6 Ewa, Orientalism, and Cultural Relativism 57
2.7 Conclusion 61
References 62
Chapter 3: Jack London and Korea 64
3.1 “A Nose for the King” as a Comic Fable or Black Comedy 66
3.2 Incarnation of Korean Incidents in The Star Rover 71
3.3 “The Yellow Peril” and “If Japan Awakens China” 78
3.4 Jack London as a Photojournalist 83
3.5 Conclusion 87
References 88
Chapter 4: Pike’s Our Little Korean Cousin and New’s When I Was a Boy in Korea 89
4.1 Cultural Politics of “Series” Book Projects 90
4.2 Fiction or Autobiography? 95
4.3 Some Mistakes and Inaccuracies 98
4.4 Pike, New, and Their Subject Positions 101
4.5 Pike, New, and Cultural Relativism 106
4.6 Conclusion 111
References 112
Chapter 5: Soon Hyun as a Man of Letters 114
5.1 Soon Hyun as a Political Activist 115
5.2 Soon Hyun’s Travelogue Powa Yuramgi 117
5.3 Soon Hyun’s Translation of the Declaration of Korean Independence 120
5.4 Soon Hyun as a Poet 123
5.5 Soon Hyun as a Playwright 126
5.6 Conclusion 135
References 136
Chapter 6: Thomas Wolfe and Younghill Kang: A Literary Adoption 138
6.1 Kang’s First Encounter with Wolfe 138
6.2 Wolfe’s Efforts to Help Establish Kang as a Novelist 142
6.3 Wolfe and Kang: Common Literary Interests 146
6.4 Kang’s Introduction of Wolfe to Korea 152
6.5 Conclusion 154
References 156
Chapter 7: No-Yong Park’s Chinaman’s Chance: A Fictionalized Autobiography 157
7.1 Disguised Identity 159
7.2 No-Yong Park: Korean or Manchurian? 165
7.3 Park’s Political Activities in Seoul 168
7.4 Park: A Korean American Writer or a Chinese American Writer? 173
7.5 Selective Forgetting 176
7.6 From Cultural Assimilation to De-assimilation 178
7.7 Conclusion 182
References 183
Chapter 8: Gunsam Lee’s The Eternal Thread as a Tragedy 185
8.1 Lee’s Apprenticeship as a Playwright in the United States 187
8.2 The Eternal Thread as a Tragedy 191
8.3 The Confined God 198
8.4 Comic Relief in The Eternal Thread 200
8.5 Conclusion 204
References 206
Chapter 9: Younghill Kang’s Murder in the Royal Palace as a Political Satire 207
9.1 Kang’s Career From a Novelist to a Playwright 208
9.2 Murder in the Royal Palace as a Political Allegory 213
9.3 Kang as a Diasporic Subject 218
9.4 Performances of Murder in the Royal Palace 220
9.5 Conclusion 224
References 225
Chapter 10: Intertextuality of Jeong Ji-yong’s Poems 227
10.1 Jeong and William Blake 229
10.2 Jeong and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 232
10.3 Jeong and Walt Whitman 235
10.4 Jeong and Joyce Kilmer 238
10.5 Jeong and Sara Teasdale 241
10.6 Jeong and Trumbull Stickney 246
10.7 Conclusion 255
References 256
Appendix A: Robert Frost and Korean Connections 258
References 264
Appendix B: William Butler Yeats and Korean Connections 265
References 270
Index 271